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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>MR. MARCHI - ADDRESS TO THE BREAKFAST FOR APEC SPONSORS - VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 97/55 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE SERGIO MARCHI, MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE, TO THE BREAKFAST FOR APEC SPONSORS VANCOUVER, British Columbia November 21, 1997 This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca Minister Lee Yock Suan, Secretary of State Chan, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me begin by welcoming all of our guests to Vancouver and to Canada. You have come to one of the world's most beautiful cities, and I hope you'll have the chance to see more of it over the course of the next few days. I want to thank Arthur Stanley of Federal Express for acting as our emcee this morning. Who better to keep things moving along on time than somebody from Federal Express? Although I think you went a bit far, Arthur, when you reminded me that I absolutely, positively have to be finished in eight minutes! This week, we are celebrating the progress APEC has made in just eight short years and taking stock of where we must go from here. To be sure, there are challenges ahead, but there are also wonderful opportunities -- and Canada intends to reap its share of those opportunities. This morning, I would like to speak for just a few moments on how we have been preparing ourselves to compete, not only in APEC, but around the world. Our priority, since coming to office in 1993, has been to create the conditions that would allow the private sector to do what it does best -- create jobs and stimulate growth. Part of that involved getting our economic house in order -- and Canadians have been remarkably successful in bringing the deficit down from about $42 billion to the point where economists are now actually talking about a balanced budget. Success on the deficit front allowed interest rates to fall to 30-year lows and inflation to remain in check at just under 2 percent. Creating the right conditions also meant making strategic investments in the future. And that includes investing in our young people and in technology. Through scholarship and internship programs, through changes to student loan programs, and through the innovation fund announced in our last federal budget, we are equipping our young people with the skills they need for jobs in a knowledge-based economy. And it meant making international trade a cornerstone of our economic policy. Just listen to the facts: trade accounts for 40 percent of our entire GDP [gross domestic product]; one in three jobs in this country is dependent upon trade; our trade surplus hit a record level of $41 billion last year, up from $6 billion in 1992. Canadians have recognized that we have far more to gain from globalization than we have to fear from it. Indeed, we have embraced globalization and demonstrated ourselves to be formidable players on the international scene. So much so, that a recent Time magazine cover story touted Canada as an "Exporting Superhero." The key to our success in the past, and to the possibilities for our future, is our commitment to freer trade. Canada's economic renaissance has been accompanied by an expanded and transformed national identity. Our deep ties across the Atlantic, our more recent recognition of our Pacific identity, and our undeniable partnership in the Americas have given Canada a unique connection to these three economic regions that will be so important in the future. Beyond the NAFTA and our free trade agreements with Chile and Israel, we have been strong supporters of liberalized trade through the World Trade Organization [WTO], the Free Trade Area of the Americas and a strengthened APEC. Our commitment to APEC is profound and logical: Asia is our neighbour; it represents a huge and growing market for what we produce and we have many natural ties to that region, through investment, family connections and trade associations. APEC has also demonstrated itself to be a very effective advocate for trade liberalization. For the past two years, it is APEC that has galvanized efforts to accelerate this pace, creating an incentive for others to follow. I'm thinking particularly of the momentum created on information technology that led to a significant agreement in this area at the WTO earlier this year. I'm also thinking of the steps I am hopeful we will take later today and tomorrow in agreeing on certain sectors where we can collectively begin work to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers. We must also move forward on facilitating trade on the ground through the streamlining of customs procedures and harmonizing of standards. Our progress must be substantial if APEC is to continue to be seen as a credible and visionary organization. There is an old saying that "it's not the mountains ahead that wear me out, it's the grain of sand in my shoe." And as any business person will tell you, it is these informal barriers, these grains of sand, that often cause the most aggravation and constitute the greatest impediments. So we're working hard on these, and real progress is being made. One of the strengths of APEC is its partnership with the private sector. No other major trade body has an equivalent of our APEC Business Advisory Council, and no other trade body places such a premium on consultations with the private sector. APEC understood from the outset that no one knows the impediments to trade or to the free flow of goods and services better than the people on the ground. They are the ones dealing with bureaucracies. They are the ones struggling to obtain information and access to capital. They are the ones who are pounding the pavement, trying to get a foot in the door. So it only makes sense to enlist their experience and expertise as we try to expand the benefits of freer trade in Asia Pacific and around the globe. The government is also working with small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] to assist them with their special requirements and to encourage them to enter the world of exporting. For example, Northstar Trade Finance is a partnership between the Export Development Corporation, the Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank, which helps small and medium-sized business with their financing and insuring needs. We are also encouraging the participation of small businesses in our Team Canada trade missions abroad. More than half of the participants in last January's Team Canada trade mission to Southeast Asia were from small and medium-sized companies -- up from about a third on previous missions. The bottom line is that we need SMEs to release their energy and dynamism onto the world stage. And we will do whatever we can to help them make that transition from domestic to international markets. As we celebrate our involvement in APEC this week, we also recognize the very real benefits our association has brought us. In particular, today we applaud two important achievements. The first is an agreement to be signed by our export credit agencies on information exchange and financing co-operation. I am pleased to say that Canada's Export Development Corporation has been instrumental in bringing that agreement to fruition. Expanded export financing in the region will boost the trade we are trying to facilitate through the APEC process. The second achievement involves our honoured guest, Mr. Lee Yock Suan, and the Government of Singapore. Following this breakfast, he and I will sign an Information and Communications Technology Agreement that will serve as an umbrella for a whole range of activities, including the creation of a broadband link between Singapore and Canada for research and development. We expect over $150 million in new trade deals to flow from this unique agreement. It will accelerate the movement of information and commerce throughout the region, and I am hopeful that similar agreements with other countries will be reached in the very near future. As I close, let me share a story about a small boy who was struggling to move a heavy stone. He couldn't budge it. His father, who was watching, asked the boy if he was using all of his strength. The boy replied that he was. "No, you're not," the father replied. "You haven't yet asked me to help you." Surely there is a lesson there for all of us. By combining our efforts we can move the largest impediments and overcome the greatest obstacles. APEC provides just such a forum for co-operative action, and I believe that in the years ahead we will surprise ourselves by the mountains we will move. Thank you. </body> </html>

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