MR. KILGOUR - ADDRESS AT A WELCOME LUNCHEON FOR LISA BOBBIE SCHREIBER HUGHES, U.S. CONSUL GENERAL IN CALGARY - CALGARY, ALBERTA
97/56 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY
THE HONOURABLE DAVID KILGOUR,
SECRETARY OF STATE (LATIN AMERICA AND AFRICA),
AT A WELCOME LUNCHEON FOR LISA BOBBIE SCHREIBER HUGHES,
U.S. CONSUL GENERAL IN CALGARY
CALGARY, Alberta
November 28, 1997
This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca
It is a pleasure to speak at this luncheon to welcome the newly appointed Consul
General of the United States of America, Lisa Bobbie Schreiber Hughes.
Ms. Schreiber Hughes has served in several posts in Latin America and the
Caribbean during her most impressive career. It is a region that is very much on
my mind at present, and I hope to compare a number of notes with our guest of
honour. I have just returned from a brief visit to Peru and Colombia, and I am
busy taking Spanish lessons. My teacher assures me, after 12 or 13 lessons, that
with just one more lesson, I'll be fluent. For now, though, I'll have to speak in
English.
The United States has a much longer history of ties with Latin America. Canada has
long had close ties with the Caribbean, but our involvement in Latin America has
been more recent. In recent years, even the United States has had to become much
more engaged with its neighbours to the south -- the setback in Congress on fast-track notwithstanding.
The Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes has said: "Every North American, before this
century is over, will find that he or she has a personal frontier with Latin
America. This is a living frontier, which can be nourished by information but,
above all, by knowledge, by understanding, by the pursuit of enlightened self
interest on both parts."
Fuentes meant "North American" in the sense that some Latin Americans still use
the term -- to refer to citizens of the United States. But today it is equally true
that no Canadian is unaffected by our relationship with Latin America.
Latin America and Canada
I am excited that my area of responsibility deals with some of the most dynamic
areas in Canada's foreign relations. In 1995, the government identified Latin
America as a region in which our geographic location gives us an important
advantage.
For many years, when Canadians looked southward, we tended not to see beyond the
United States. Our entry into the Organization of American States [OAS] in 1990
was a clear political signal of our desire to play a more active role in
hemispheric issues. We hoped that our involvement in the OAS would lead to a
revitalization of regional intergovernmental institutions.
In the early 1990s, Canada negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement
[NAFTA] with the United States and Mexico. It was the first regional trade
agreement in the world involving so-called developing and developed countries.
During the same period, we extended our resident diplomatic representation to most
countries of the region.
The Miami Summit
In 1994, Prime Minister Chrétien participated in the Miami Summit of the Americas,
where leaders of 34 democratically elected countries agreed on a partnership for
development and prosperity. This partnership would be based on a commitment to
democratic practices, economic integration and social justice.
In April next year, the process will continue with the Summit of the Americas in
Santiago, Chile. These talks aim to lay the groundwork for a Free Trade Area of
the Americas [FTAA] by 2005. They will also address other important social
development issues, including all-important education.
Meanwhile, Canada has been pursuing closer trading relations throughout the
region. This year, Canada and Chile concluded a bilateral free trade agreement.
This was an expression of Canada's desire to continue with a trading agenda at a
time when some in the U.S. Congress are reluctant to give fast-track approval for
negotiations to include Chile in the NAFTA.
Canada is also talking trade with other regional groupings, such as MERCOSUR, the
Andean Pact, CARICOM, and the Central American Common Market. We look forward to
trade partnerships with members of these groups as we move toward hemispheric free
trade.
MERCOSUR
Let me draw your attention to Canada's efforts to develop enhanced trading
relations with MERCOSUR, which in a trade pact includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay
and Paraguay. Canadians exported nearly $1.7 billion to these four countries in
1996, and absorbed imports of $1.4 billion. The Canadian government is trying to
lay a groundwork that will allow more and smoother trading between MERCOSUR and
Canada.
In January, a Team Canada trade mission will visit Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and
Chile. It will be patterned on previous successful Team Canada missions to Asia,
which have brought together our Prime Minister and Premiers in promoting economic
growth for all of us.
Commonwealth Caribbean
I might note that although my formal title is Secretary of State (Latin America
and Africa), I am also responsible for the Caribbean, including the Commonwealth
Caribbean.
Although the Caribbean is geographically close to Latin America, our trading
relationships with the two regions have been quite different. Canada has enjoyed a
long historic relationship with the Commonwealth Caribbean. We share a common
language, and common political and legal traditions, based on our ties with
Britain. The Bank of Nova Scotia had a branch in the Caribbean before it was in
Toronto. We don't need to talk about the rum trade between Canada and the
Caribbean. We have sometimes been inclined to take the Caribbean peoples for
granted. This is a serious mistake. The countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean
are among our closest friends on the international stage. In our recent bid for
Calgary 2005, 11 of the 25 votes we got were from CARICOM states.
African Renaissance
Africa's emergence as a stable, prosperous continent is important to every other
continent. The Canadian bond with Africa has continued to build since the days of
John Diefenbaker and Mike Pearson. Both leaders saw what Africa means to the world
and what it is capable of contributing. I am an Africa optimist.
The end of apartheid in South Africa and the spread of democracy in other African
countries gives the world increasing hope that Africa's potential will finally be
realized. We Canadians must continue to lend assistance.
In September, I visited Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya, and saw how central Africa is
changing and our stereotypes are obsolete. In Kampala, I learned that fully 2000
companies have located operations in Uganda in recent years. Similarly, in Rwanda,
close observers say that there has been real economic progress for some -- although
certainly not all -- since the catastrophes of 1994, and the government in office
there is genuinely seeking reconciliation among its constituent communities.
In Kenya, despite large problems, there appears to be a national stepping back
from the abyss. Our delegation arrived shortly after a multiparty committee of
Members of Parliament had agreed on a comprehensive package of reforms, which now
appears to have been enacted fully before the December elections. In short, there
is cause for optimism in all three nations.
Canadian Foreign Policy
I would argue that Canada's foreign policy in the 1990s has not only been for the
most part intelligent; it has often been exciting, particularly in recent years.
Look at Canada's campaign to ban anti-personnel landmines. It is perhaps the most
obvious example of this country taking a lead on an issue that could have been
ignored because:
(a) it wasn't popular in military circles; and
(b) it doesn't personally concern many important people
around the world.
Important people don't spend a lot of time walking through fields and down paths
that are likely to explode under them at any given moment. Millions of poor
civilians do.
It is an important issue. It tells ordinary people that they matter. There are an
estimated 100 million landmines lurking around the world, waiting to blow children
to bits -- for no other reason than that these kids took one false step on land
that should sustain them.
As you know, Canada has played a significant role in the grass-roots activism that
should lead us -- must lead us -- to a meaningful international accord on the
banning of anti-personnel mines. I was pleased to see that Americans too were
recognized in this campaign, with the recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to
Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines.
Next week, approximately 100 countries are expected to sign a treaty toward this
end in Ottawa, as one more step in what has become known as the "Ottawa Process."
Canadians should be proud.
The fight to obliterate anti-personnel landmines is just one component of Foreign
Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy's commitment to the concept of sustainable human
security, which he has twice advanced in formal presentations to the United
Nations General Assembly. A next important project will be efforts to limit the
global trade in small arms.
Human Rights
Canada has also found a niche for itself in the area of human rights. Our approach
is evolutionary, not coercive. Even if we wanted to force change, we have to face
the fact that Canada simply does not have the economic leverage or the
international clout to do so. We can, however, work from within to support
non-governmental organizations [NGOs] and to develop a space in which civil
society can grow.
Support for improvements in human rights can take different avenues. In countries
that are prepared to engage with us on even a limited scale, such as Cuba, we will
work for evolutionary change. For regimes that are unwilling to enter into any
sort of dialogue or exchange whatsoever, such as Burma or Nigeria, we work for
broader international action to press those regimes to change their ways.
Next year we'll all celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. Canada will do its utmost during the year to convince governments
everywhere that the suppression of human rights can only lead to the kind of
bitterness that creates political uprisings.
To be certain, we have work to do in our own backyard on issues of the environment
and human rights -- issues that are so important internationally. But while we are
working on our own problems, we have to be working on the world's problems too.
Because when the circle is closed, they are our problems too.
Let me give the final word to Octavio Paz, the Mexican diplomat and poet. In his
reflections on contemporary history, One Earth, Four or Five Worlds, Paz notes
that all great nations have prudence, which he defines as wisdom and integrity,
boldness and moderation, discernment and persistence in undertakings. The aim of
our country, both domestically and internationally, should be this notion of
prudence.
Thank you.