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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>MR. MARCHI - ADDRESS TO THEPARTNERING AND INVESTING IN CANADIAN TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR - SINGAPORE</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 98/76 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE SERGIO MARCHI TO THE PARTNERING AND INVESTING IN CANADIAN TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR SINGAPORE November 13, 1998 (9:30 a.m. EST) This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca I am delighted to be here today and to participate in this important Seminar. Of course, any Canadian would be happy to come to Singapore in November! I just checked with my office and it's snowing in Ottawa. So I appreciate the warmth -- both of your weather and of your welcome! Let me begin by congratulating the organizers of today's Seminar. This has been an excellent opportunity for Canadian companies to showcase their products and services and to present an image of Canada that perhaps many Asian business leaders hadn't seen before. It is also very timely. Tomorrow Prime Minister Chrétien will witness the signing of a Research and Development and Commercialization Agreement between the Singapore Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) and the Medical Research Council of Canada. This builds on an earlier successful partnership between the IMCB and the University of British Columbia. So the precedents for productive joint ventures between our two countries have already been established -- and now we must multiply and expand them. Today's seminar also reflects the fact that both Canada and Singapore are building their futures on a common foundation: the foundation of knowledge-based industries. Both countries have recognized that the future belongs to those nations that invest in knowledge, innovation and education; that our wealth will be determined, not by the size of our armies, but by the strength of our ideas. And both countries know that the health of an economy will be judged by the number of computer programs written, the patents registered and the degrees conferred. And so I welcome this opportunity to tell you more about a Canada you may not know, leading the world in areas you might not expect. I think it's safe to say that many in Singapore still see Canada as a land of lakes and trees -- a resource-based economy ruled by Mounties and populated by hockey players. Well, that's a nice image, but it's also a little 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 represents only about 12 percent of our GDP! When Singapore business people think of Canada today, you should be thinking high- tech. You should be thinking a knowledge-based economy, fired by information technology, fueled by telecommunications and fortified by the fifth-largest aerospace industry in the world. You should be thinking of a country that is number one in the G-7 in home computer, cable and telephone penetration. Number one in the G-7 in technology potential. A country that has put every school and library online. As you have seen today, Canada is also a world leader in telecommunications and information technology. Last year, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore to encourage greater co-operation in Information and Communication Technology, and that agreement is working well. The bottom line is that Canada has much more to offer than the resources of our land -- we also offer the resourcefulness of our people and I am hopeful that Singapore and Canada will do much more together in the area of technology. I would also like to see more Singapore investors looking to Canada when they want to expand their businesses abroad. Canada stands as a gateway to the vast North American market, through our participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement. We are also a trans-Pacific bridge to the Americas, through our involvement in APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum], our leadership in negotiating a Free Trade Area of the Americas and our Free Trade Agreement with Chile. In fact, Canada is ideally positioned and anyone looking to establish a base that will give them access to some of the largest, richest and most dynamic markets in the world, should think of locating in Canada. Of course, location is important, but we know that investors are looking for more than just proximity. They are also looking for sound economic fundamentals and those of Canada are among the best in the world. 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, putting Canada among the top five places in the world to do business over the next five years. Certainly, the many foreign corporations with investments in Canada wouldn't disagree. Their profits have risen an average of 50 percent over the last two years. Investors are also looking for a low-cost business environment. KPMG, an international consulting company, recently conducted a study that 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 this cost advantage wasn't restricted to one or two locations in Canada -- we were found to be a low-cost locale from coast to coast, with the entire country offering opportunities and advantages for international investors. The study also found that Canada offers the most generous R&D [research and development] tax credits in the world! These are some of the "hard cost" advantages Canada offers. But there are also the "softer costs" involved in deciding where to locate -- the quality of life considerations. And Canada offers many advantages on that front too. Advantages like a healthcare system that doesn't check your credit rating before it checks your blood pressure. Advantages like safe communities, clean streets, a superbly educated workforce and spectacular beauty. Let me emphasize the quality of the Canadian workforce. It is among the most educated in the world. Of the top 20 electrical engineering departments in North America, nine are located in Canada. Nor is it an accident that Microsoft recruits more graduates from one Canadian University -- Waterloo -- than it does from anywhere else, year after year. We have worked hard to create a first-rate education-technological infrastructure, with widespread collaboration between industry and university research departments. Canadian workers are also among the most loyal in the world and this low turn-over means less money on training and higher productivity. Finally, Canada is home to thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) -- among the most dynamic and innovative in the world -- which are always looking for new opportunities to form partnerships with firms just like yours. When you add up all of these factors -sound economic fundamentals, a knowledge-intensive economy, a low-cost business environment, a highly educated workforce, vibrant SMEs and a quality of life that the United Nations has rated number one in the world for five years running -- you have an ideal place to invest, expand a business and raise a family. Of course, you would expect me to say that. After all, I'm hardly impartial! So don't take my word for it -- talk to your Asian and European friends. Ask them about the numbers their Canadian operations are posting and then visit us and decide for yourselves. The opportunities for partnerships between Canadian and Singapore companies are truly amazing. We are just scratching the surface and much potential remains untapped. Similarly, the Singapore business community is just becoming aware of the opportunities for investment that await them in Canada. If it is true that "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," then I believe we have taken an important step today. We have blazed a trail, but we have not reached our destination. So let us continue to take those steps together. Let us continue to work together as partners, plan together as colleagues and walk together as friends. If we do, I know that the journey will be worthwhile -- and the path rewarding -- for both nations. Thank you. </body> </html>

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