
Français		Home		Contact Us		Help		Search		canada.gc.ca		Canada International

Home > Media Room

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada

Canadian Offices Abroad

Services for Canadian Travellers

Services for Business

Canada in the World

About the Department

SPEECHES

2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1997 - 1996

Print friendly version - Printing Tips

<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>MR. MARCHI - ADDRESS TO THE ALLIANCE OFMANUFACTURERS AND EXPORTERS CANADA - QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 97/38 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE SERGIO MARCHI MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE TO THE ALLIANCE OF MANUFACTURERS AND EXPORTERS CANADA QUEBEC CITY, Quebec October 6, 1997 This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca It's a pleasure to be here and to see some of the people I have been meeting individually since I became Minister for International Trade four months ago. Our meetings have been very useful for me. I have learned from you and I have heard clearly what you expect from the Government with respect to our role in promoting Canadian trade and investment. It's a real pleasure to work with business people, because business people say what they mean. And what I have heard is that you want the federal Government to press on vigorously with improvements in our trade and investment promotion services. One trade promotion initiative that I will talk about today is the Prime Minister's Team Canada missions. Since 1994, Mr. Chrétien has led three Team Canada missions to China, and South and Southeast Asia. This January, we are headed to Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Brazil. The Prime Minister has opened the doors to trade with this region. And we are pleased that Premier Bouchard and some of the other provincial premiers are taking advantage of these open doors by leading trade missions of their own to China this fall. We applaud these initiatives as they contribute to Canada's trade development strategy. As an Asia Pacific nation, Canada is uniquely positioned to seize the opportunities that lie in this region. As part of an Asia Pacific nation, Quebec stands to benefit greatly from the economic growth that will occur in this area. Quebec has already benefited from the Team Canada trips to Asia, capturing one quarter of all the Team Canada contracts signed, which will in turn create thousands of jobs for Quebecers. The business community recognizes this -- on the last Team Canada mission, 115 of the 350 participants came from Quebec. The business community wants their government to act in other areas as well. You want government to streamline their services and make them more accessible. You want to be consulted regularly so you can tell us: whether we're providing the right services; whether we should stop doing some things and start others; and whether we're providing you with the right information -- when you need it. You want to eliminate confusion in gaining access to our programs and services. You want one-stop shopping, where you can be referred immediately to the service you need. You want government departments to speak with one voice, and you want all levels of government to work co-operatively in their promotion of our trade interests, without bickering over juridictions. Just as our Team Canada missions abroad have been built on close federal-provincial-private sector co-operation, we have to establish a similarly strong trade team at home. We have forged strong links between government departments, maximizing the use of our expertise, our data banks, our programs. We are building bridges to the private sector, assessing your needs and matching them with targeted services. In fact, we have put in place the wiring for the best trade network in the world. Our ultimate objective is: to become the world's foremost trading nation. I've been listening to your advice and today I want to inform you about several new steps that I intend to take now to enhance and build upon our trade network in line with this Government's Red Book mandate. I want to stress that these steps are consistent with the Government's Throne Speech commitment to build on the success we have had with Team Canada to date. As the Throne Speech said: Team Canada trade missions have successfully generated new opportunities for Canadian businesses and have illustrated what we can accomplish when the government and the private sector collaborate. The Government will build on that success with a focussed strategy, developed in consultation with industry, to improve our international economic performance by expanding Canada's trade base. The steps I am announcing now are part of that strategy. First, we will call our trade services network -- this co-operative venture of federal departments, provinces, municipalities, educational institutions and you, the private sector -- "Team Canada Inc." Team Canada Inc is a name that truly reflects the co-operative and consultative manner in which it has been developed. It reflects, as well, the continual commitment to involvement of all the partners. And like all networks it is designed for expansion and adaptation to new circumstances. By creating this identity we will capture the Team Canada spirit, which has so successfully animated the Prime Minister's trade missions abroad, involving provincial premiers, municipalities, large and small businesses and universities: in short all the Team Canada partners. This spirit will energize our vision for a highly efficient, results-oriented trade promotion network for all Canadians. This network recognizes that we must apply the success of Team Canada on home ice as well. It will demonstrate that Canadians are effective when they mobilize their resources and work together from coast to coast. Second, I am establishing a senior business advisory group, the Team Canada Inc Advisory Board, to provide strategic advice on what directions we should take together in the future. The board will directly advise me and my colleagues on all elements of trade promotion, policy and investment. It will be chaired by Red Wilson, who you all know is CEO and chairman of the board of BCE, and who has provided invaluable recommendations to the government on trade promotion services in the past. The board will replace the International Trade Advisory Committee [ITAC] which has given guidance to the government on international trade agreements and other policy issues over the years. It will be smaller than ITAC, with the aim of providing counsel more quickly, but it will also be representative of the full cross-section of Canadian trade interests. The new board will continue to provide advice on trade policy, but the vital role of trade promotion and investment will be incorporated in its deliberations. This reflects our view that it is not only important to get world trade rules right, but to position our companies to take advantage of the openings those rules offer. As you know, the Red Book calls for the establishment of a trade promotion agency. In line with this objective, we will be asking the board to provide advice on how to continue to improve business development services to Canadians. Third, my Department will re-deploy its resources to give greater weight to our trade promotion efforts in fast-growing markets in Asia and Latin America, as well as exploiting new opportunities in Europe and the United States. I have decided to increase the number of trade commissioners in these markets by more than 30 per cent over the next five years by moving more officers out of headquarters and into the field. About half of our professional trade staff are currently working in Canada. Our objective is to assign ten additional trade commissioners abroad each year and to have 70 per cent of our staff in international markets by 2006. Our ambassadors and trade commissioners have told me that they can be more effective in helping Canadian companies overseas when the companies are well prepared. I am encouraging you, therefore, to use the services offered by Team Canada Inc across the country to prepare yourself well for the demands of the global marketplace. I am confident that this network approach, calling on the resources of all our Team Canada Inc partners, will work, because we have experience already, upon which we can build. For example two years ago we undertook an initiative jointly with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to establish the Agri-Food Trade Service [ATS], a comprehensive network of federal services from the regions to the posts abroad. The ATS has been fully embraced by the agri-food sector, and has been instrumental in helping the industry achieve its goal of $20 billion worth of exports by the year 2000 ahead of schedule. And as we step up our efforts to further penetrate priority and emerging markets, the expertise and market intelligence that trade commissioners provide will become increasingly valuable and sought after by Canadian firms. And their services will be better targeted at helping export-ready companies make new foreign deals. Fourth, my department will ensure that, by the new year, you will have an improved single point of contact to connect you to all our trade services. You are already aware of the 1-888 phone number that connects you with Industry Canada's Business Service Centres. This service will be enhanced by the new year to put you in touch more rapidly with the right Team Canada Inc partner -- either at my department's headquarters in Ottawa or at our International Trade Centres across the country -- to respond specifically to your needs. This will build on ExportSource, the service that my cabinet colleagues, Ministers Manley and Vanclief, and I launched two weeks ago. ExportSource is a new Internet site that provides comprehensive information on all our export services at the click of a button. And my colleagues and I are working on linking up the other federal departments -- 16 in all -- who have trade-related responsibilities. So it's not up to you to figure out who in Team Canada Inc you should be calling. You can find out by going to ExportSource. We believe it's better to deal online with government than to wait in line for government. ExportSource is on display here at the conference at the Team Canada booth and I invite you to see for yourself what it can do. Fifth, my Department is establishing a new unit specifically devoted to serving the export needs of small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs]. The unit will concentrate on the special needs of SMEs in export markets. It will be a champion for SMEs within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and will work with similar units in other departments and agencies to ensure that all trade promotion services are adapted to the needs of small and medium-sized business. The unit wil play an important role in our efforts to increase the number of new exporters. And it will be conscious as well, of the special requirements of women, aboriginal and young entrepreneurs. It will also explore ways to work with multicultural business people and others in the community to harness Canadians' knowledge of other cultures and languages to tap into trade and investment markets. The unit will build on the work being done by trade associations and Chambers of Commerce as well as you, in the Alliance. It will be headed by Joanna Townsend, who has had years of experience in the international trade realm in the private sector, and -- you will also know -- as chair of the business and professional services SAGIT. Finally, the three core federal departments working in Team Canada Inc will be preparing an integrated, results-oriented business plan for trade and investment promotion which will be presented to Treasury Board. This plan will outline in clear terms exactly what resources Team Canada Inc will be dedicating to achieving clearly defined export and trade promotion goals. I think it will show you that we really mean business. My federal colleagues and I will continue to work as a team to ensure that we have a fully integrated international business development plan. I will be reporting annually to Parliament on the results we have achieved. So, you see, these measures are our response to what I have heard from business across the country, as well as from our officials in Canada and abroad. And these measures are just the start. As I noted, earlier I will be receiving the views of the advisory board on the trade promotion agency. In close consultation with you, my colleagues and the advisory board, I will be working to continue to make changes and improvements that better meet your requirements and which best promote Canada's trade and investment interests at home and abroad. Thank you. </body> </html>

2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1997 - 1996

Print friendly version - Printing Tips



Last Updated: 2006-10-30	Top of Page	Important Notices