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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>MR. MARCHI - ADDRESS TO THE CANADIAN GERMAN CHAMBER OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCEAND THEGERMAN-CANADIAN BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION - TORONTO, ONTARIO</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 98/68 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE SERGIO MARCHI MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE TO THE CANADIAN GERMAN CHAMBER OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE AND THE GERMAN-CANADIAN BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION TORONTO, Ontario October 17, 1998 (8:30 p.m. EDT) This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca I am delighted to be with you this evening to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and the 45th anniversary of the German-Canadian Business and Professional Association. Let me begin by congratulating both organizations on your combined 75 years of outstanding work promoting closer commercial ties between Germany and Canada. When your organizations were founded, the Cold War still cast its shadow over Europe. Germany was divided and East-West tensions were high. Well, as they say, that was then and this is now. Today, the Cold War is over, Berlin is no longer a city divided and Germany stands as the pre-eminent economic power in Europe. So tonight, even as we celebrate the past we also look to the future and to the promise it holds. We meet at a historic moment. A new government has been elected in Germany and all of Europe stands on the verge of an exciting new era. Canada looks forward to working with Chancellor Schroeder and his government, just as we have worked together with previous administrations, on issues such as the expansion of NATO, the effort to eliminate landmines and the campaign to promote children's rights. In many ways, the eyes of the world will be on Germany in the coming months as it assumes the Presidency of the EU [European Union] at a critical juncture. And Germany will also play host in Cologne to the G-8 Summit at a time of considerable economic uncertainty around the globe. At such times it is good to have friends, and Germany has a friend in Canada. There are many formal bonds between our two countries, but there are also many close personal connections as well. Nearly 500 000 German tourists visited Canada last year alone and 2 000 Germans choose to make Canada their home each year. Today there are nearly three million Canadians of German descent bringing their strong work ethic to their adopted land. German-Canadians are contributing to our national life in every field, as entrepreneurs, accountants, lawyers and labourers, engineers and architects. Those of you in this room understand the importance of these connections. Many of you are German business leaders who have seen the opportunities in Canada, and have either established or expanded your businesses here. And all of you have done tremendous work to promote Canadian-German partnerships. The Chamber's initiative taking representatives from the Canadian housing industry to Germany to meet with potential partners is just one example of the kind of important work you are doing. So tonight, I have come both to thank you for those efforts and to enlist your support for a renewed commitment to enhancing trade and investment between us. In particular, I would like to encourage you to spread the word back home that Canada is a terrific place in which to do business. Germany and Canada already have a significant commercial relationship. Two-way trade last year amounted to over $11 billion. Germany is our fifth-largest trading partner and our sixth-largest source of foreign investment. But we also know that we are still only scratching the surface -- that there is much more we can and must do together. Let's just take investment as an example. Germany is a world leader in this area, providing over 8 percent of global international investment in 1996. More than 22 percent of that investment went to the United States, and just 1 percent came to Canada. I think we can do better. I think we have a wonderful product to sell -- Canada -- and as salespeople, we need to do a better job of marketing it. We need to tell German businesspeople about a Canada they may not know, leading the world in areas they might not expect. To many Germans, Canada is still a land of lakes and trees -- a resource-based economy populated by hockey players and ruled by Mounties. Well, that's a nice image, but rather dated! The fact is that the percentage of Canadian exports attributable to commodities has fallen from about 60 percent in 1980 to just 35 percent in 1997. This amounts to only 12 percent of our GDP! Our task is to get this message across to our friends in Germany. When they think of Canada, they should be thinking high-tech. They should be thinking of a knowledge-based economy fired by information technology, fuelled by telecommunications and fortified by the third-largest aerospace industry in the world. They should be thinking of a country that is number one in the G-7 in home computer, cable and telephone penetration -- and number one as well in technology potential. A country that has put every school and library on-line. They should also be thinking of a country with sound economic fundamentals. We have balanced our budget -- the first G-7 country to do so. Inflation and interest rates are low, and growth is strong. The Financial Times of London calls Canada the "top dog in the G-7" and the Economist Intelligence Unit agrees, ranking Canada among the world's top five places for doing business over the next five years. Certainly the many, many international corporations with investments in Canada wouldn't disagree. Their profits have risen an average of 50 percent over the last two years. Now, that's a lot of boasting. And we Canadians are not a boastful people. So I will refrain from mentioning the study by KPMG, an international consulting company, which compared the cost of doing business in Germany, France, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Canada -- and ranked Canada number one. And I certainly wouldn't want to destroy the myth that Canada is a high-tax environment by pointing out that in the study we were actually tied with Sweden for the lowest overall corporate tax rates. Or by reminding you that we offer the most generous R&D [research and development] tax credits in the world. No, it would be wrong for me to mention any of these things, so I will leave them unsaid. But I will say that in a world where technology allows companies to settle almost anywhere, quality-of-life considerations become very important in deciding where to set up a business. And Canada offers many advantages on that front. Advantages such as a health care system which doesn't check your credit rating before it checks your blood pressure. Advantages such as safe communities, clean streets, a superbly educated work force, spectacular beauty, and a multilingual and multicultural citizenry. Those of you here tonight understand this -- you have experienced these advantages first hand. And we need you to continue to take that message to your contacts in Germany. We also need to get Germans thinking about Canada, not as a market of 30 million but as a gateway to a market of hundreds of millions -- not only to the United States, NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] members and the Asia-Pacific region, but also to the eventual Free Trade Area of the Americas. When German firms look for a launching pad into these vast markets, we want a huge red maple leaf to come to their minds. Of course, investment, like trade, is reciprocal. Just as we want to attract more German businesses here, our companies are demonstrating a keen awareness of the opportunities afforded by Germany. In fact, more than 100 Canadian companies, including such well-known firms as Nortel, Magna and Bombardier, have operations in Germany. But there are also many joint ventures between smaller -- and in some cases family-owned -- businesses in fields as diverse as housing construction, multimedia and environmental technologies. And we are also seeing a growing number of strategic alliances by Canadian companies in Germany -- particularly in the "Neue Laender," where Canada is the fourth-largest investor. In short, Germans and Canadians have a history of working well together. It is therefore with great enthusiasm, that we look to Germany's assuming the Presidency of the EU in January. Stronger ties with Europe are important to Canada. Next to the United States, it is our largest trading partner and we have moved decisively in recent years to enhance that relationship. In 1996 we signed the Canada-EU Action Plan, and we have commenced free trade negotiations with the four member states of the European Free Trade Association. We have also suggested that Europe combine its present three-pronged strategy, which involves separate negotiations with Canada, Mexico and the United States, into a single set of negotiations involving free trade between Europe and all of the NAFTA countries together. It just makes more sense to have one superhighway for trade, rather than three separate roads running between North America and Europe. With the increasing interdependence of Europe and North America, it is vital that we continue to work together to liberalize trade across the Atlantic. For a number of decades, the Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the German-Canadian Business and Professional Association have worked hard to do just that. You have opened doors and opened eyes, and your role has never been more important -- or needed -- than now. As we look ahead to a new era in German-Canadian relations, we do so with great hope and much optimism. And I have every confidence that if you invite some future Minister of Trade to address the Chamber's 60th anniversary, or the Association's 90th, he or she will be able to speak of the previous years as ones in which our relationship really took off, when the potential was realized and the opportunities embraced. Let us resolve to make that happen. And let us continue to work together as allies, plan together as friends and trade together as partners. Thank you. </body> </html>

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