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<title>NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE SERGIO MARCHI MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE TO THE NAFTA FIFTH ANNIVERSARY LUNCHEON - OTTAWA, ONTARIO</title>
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<p><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1"></font><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1">99/32 <u>CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY</u></font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1">NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY </font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1">THE HONOURABLE SERGIO MARCHI </font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1">MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE </font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1">TO THE NAFTA FIFTH ANNIVERSARY LUNCHEON</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1">OTTAWA, Ontario</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1">April 23, 1999</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1"><em>(1:45 p.m. EDT)</em></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Ambassador Barshefsky, Secretary Blanco, fellow Ministers, Members of Parliament, distinguished
guests, ladies and gentlemen:</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Let me welcome all of you to Ottawa, especially our friends from the United States and Mexico.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">I also want to express my thanks to the Business Council on National Issues, the Canadian Chamber
of Commerce and the Alliance of Manufacturers & Exporters Canada for working with us in putting
this luncheon together.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Today we celebrate five years of the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA]: five years of
progress, partnership and achievement.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">In its first five years, the NAFTA has exceeded expectations, contributing to considerably increased
trade and foreign direct investment [FDI] flows throughout the continent.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Total trade among the three countries has increased by 75 percent and now surpasses C$700
billion annually. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">This in turn has stimulated strong economic growth and contributed to record employment levels in
all three NAFTA countries.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The benefits to workers and their families are clear: employment has increased by 20 percent in
Mexico, by 7 percent in the United States and by 10 percent in Canada.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">On the investment front, the NAFTA partners have invested C$532 billion in each other's economies,
while total FDI has reached C$1.1 trillion.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">So the message is clear: the NAFTA works.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Furthermore, the NAFTA has helped reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers between the partners and
has paved the way for even more commercial activity.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Last year, for example, Canada and the United States completed the process of tariff elimination
under the NAFTA, and most tariffs between Canada and Mexico will be removed by 2003.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Our goal is to make it equally easy for a Canadian company to do business in Tulsa or Tijuana as it
can in Vancouver.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Moreover, the NAFTA agreements on labour and the environment have bolstered co-operation in
these important areas and ensured that domestic laws are fully enforced.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Ultimately, the rules-based trading framework created by the NAFTA has made the conduct of
business in North America more predictable and transparent. This, in turn, has helped to minimize
disputes.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">For Canada, the NAFTA has done something else as well: it has ignited our interest in pursuing
opportunities throughout our hemisphere.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Over the past few years we have worked to extend the benefits of free trade beyond North America.
As you know, we have a successful free trade agreement with Chile, modelled on the NAFTA, and
trade and investment co-operation agreements with Mercosur, with Central America and soon with
the Andean Community.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">And last year, more than 500 companies participated in a Team Canada visit to Latin America led
by our Prime Minister -- the largest and most comprehensive of its kind.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Canada is also an enthusiastic supporter of the Free Trade Area of the Americas initiative. We are
currently chairing the negotiations, which will ultimately create the world's largest free trade area, with
a population of 800 million and a combined GDP [gross domestic product] of over C$10 trillion.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">So the NAFTA has been important not only for the benefits it has brought but also for the precedent it
has set and for the desire it has inspired to expand our vision beyond its borders.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Of course, to cite the successes of the NAFTA is not to pretend that our work is done.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">From the Canadian perspective, a number of challenges exist for the next leg of the journey:</font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Arial">First, we must ensure continued implementation of the NAFTA, with particular attention to areas
such as professional certification, spousal employment and ground transportation.</font></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><font face="Arial">Second, we need to ensure greater openness and transparency in NAFTA institutions.
Governments need to reach out better and engage business and other stakeholders.</font></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><font face="Arial">Third, we must clarify our common understanding on investor-state provisions to ensure that
government's ability to legislate and regulate in the public interest is protected.</font></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><font face="Arial">Fourth, we need to make sure that the NAFTA keeps up with the rapid technological changes
taking place in the marketplace, such as the introduction of electronic commerce. We must not
proceed into the next millennium with old rules that don't reflect the new realities.</font></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><font face="Arial">Fifth, we should re-assess areas that were not fully addressed in the NAFTA, or where further
progress -- or even a different approach -- may be possible. This should include greater
co-operation in our respective use of trade remedies and in our efforts to ensure that technical
standards are more compatible and less distorting.</font></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><font face="Arial">Finally, because all trade -- like all politics -- is local, we must work to ensure that the goals of
trade liberalization, sustainable development and respect for workers' rights are compatible and
mutually reinforcing.</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Arial">Of course, our American and Mexican friends may well have additional priorities. The overall
objective, however, remains the same: to continue working together to ensure that we have a
common vision for a North American trade community.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">This morning, Secretary Blanco, Ambassador Barshefsky and I met with a group of university
students from our three countries. These bright young individuals represent the ideals and hopes of a
NAFTA generation. We need to persevere, in large part, for them.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Coming together under the NAFTA was a beginning. Staying united was progress. And working
together continues to be a success. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"></font><font face="Arial">As we proceed on this remarkable journey, let us build </font><font face="Arial">our friendship and co-operation into </font><font face="Arial">a true
North American community, where we develop shared values and interests as fully and as quickly as
we exchange our goods and services, and where the NAFTA approach can be held out as an
example to the rest of the hemisphere and the world.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Thank you.</font></p>
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