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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>MR. MARCHI - ADDRESS TO THE DUBAI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY - DUBAI, UNITED ABRAB EMIRATES</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 99/12 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE SERGIO MARCHI MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE TO THE DUBAI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY DUBAI, United Arab Emirates February 25, 1999 (11:00 a.m. EST) Thank you to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry for hosting this wonderful dinner. From a personal perspective, I am particularly happy to be here. Last November, I made a brief stop-over in Dubai while travelling with the Prime Minister to Singapore. I hoped then that I would have the chance to return and I am just delighted that it's so soon. So thank you for your invitation, and for this opportunity to share our enthusiasm for the future of trade and investment between the United Arab Emirates and Canada. Links between Dubai and Canada are growing all the time. Last summer, the soccer team from Dubai Men's College toured Canada and proceeded to beat most of the Canadian college teams they played. Next year, perhaps we can send over a hockey team to try to even up the score! Let me say how delighted we are that one of the things you have adopted from Canada is the Terry Fox Run. In fact, I understand that the Run here in Dubai is the second-largest charity event for the Terry Fox Foundation outside Canada. Terry's run inspired our nation, as it now inspires yours, and demonstrates that not only does cancer know no borders -- courage knows no nationality. And I want to thank His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Said al-Maktoum for his patronage of this annual event, as well as Leana Lutsch, who has chaired the Run here in Dubai for the last four years and has done such a wonderful job of promoting it. We were also pleased to welcome members of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, together with their colleagues from Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, who took part in the first session of the Joint Economic Commission, which began in Ottawa in July and then proceeded across Canada. We hope you liked what you saw, and that you'll come back -- to establish business connections, to see our country as tourists, and to explore opportunities as investors! It is clear that Canada and Dubai are discovering one another as never before. This is due, in no small measure, to the excellent work done by the Canada-Arab Business Council in Canada, and the Canadian Business Council here in Dubai. I want you to know that we appreciate all of your efforts. I am here today both to thank you and to receive your counsel on what I can do to support the work you are doing. I want to know what specific challenges you face, what impediments need to be addressed, what obstacles need to be overcome. Working together, I am confident that we can remove these barriers to progress and give a real turbo-boost to our commercial relationship! I am joined on this trade mission by more than 35 Canadian business leaders, all of whom recognize the tremendous potential of the UAE. I am also pleased that 25 Canadian companies are participating in the Canadian Technology Showcase, which is taking place at the Sharjah Expo Centre, and are taking the opportunity to hold discussions with the Sharjah and Dubai business community. Their interest is not surprising. After all, the progress of the UAE in recent years has been remarkable. You have used your tremendous hydrocarbon resources to build an economy that's both vibrant and diversified. You have a thriving private sector and strong free-trade zones, and you have established yourself as a major transportation hub with the Asian subcontinent, Africa and the central Asian Community of Independent States. And just as you have diversified your economy, so now we invite you to diversify your economic partners. We want you to consider Canada both as a source of goods and services and as a destination for your investment dirham. Today, I would like to suggest two areas that we can address to enhance the relationship between the UAE and Canada. Let me just touch on each of these. First, enhancing trade: Two-way trade between Canada and the UAE stands at $270 million -- and is growing rapidly. Canadian exports here tripled in the last five years. There is already a strong Canadian presence in Dubai. In fact, 1600 Canadians live here -- and looking around you can see evidence of their presence. Indeed, Canadians are helping to define the modern skyline of your region. The National Bank of Dubai, the Sharjah Science Museum, the Sharjah Library, the Etisalat Towers, both Higher Colleges of Technology in Sharjah, and the Dubai Twin Towers -- all of these were not only designed by Canadians, but also had Canadian supervision in their engineering and construction. In fact, more than 30 companies have offices here -- in sectors ranging from building and construction to aerospace and agri-food. In each of these areas, I am proud to say that our products and services enjoy a reputation for quality and competitive prices. We, in Canada, very much appreciate the confidence that Emirates Airlines has placed in Canadian technology, and in CAE in particular, in purchasing three flight simulators and two crew training simulators for the Emirates training centre. The UAE is renowned for its educational facilities, and Canadians have been privileged to participate in your remarkable success. Both the Vice-Chancellor of the Higher Colleges and the Director of the Men's College are Canadian. In all, some 19 Canadian professors and administrators can be found at Zayed University Campus in Dubai. The UAE is also a very important market for Canadian agricultural and agri-food products. Canadian wheat and Canola oil, together with Robin Hood Flour, Clearly Canadian beverages and McCain's french fries, are just some of the Canadian products available here. So, as you can see, we come today not as strangers in a distant land, but as partners and as friends. We stand on the firm foundation that you have built. And now the time has come to build on that foundation, to join hands and work together as never before to enhance trade between us. The second area that holds great potential is UAE investment in Canada. At the moment, Canada remains a largely undiscovered market for many of you. When you think of North America, you tend to think only about the United States. But we believe that when you look at the advantages that Canada offers, you will be impressed by what you see. I believe that one of the impediments to greater Arab investment in Canada is an outdated notion of what we're all about. There is still the impression that Canada is a land of snow and lakes and trees -- with an economy based on our natural resources. Well, we are rich in natural resources, but our economy is not just resource-based. In fact, when you think of Canada today, you should be thinking high tech. You should be thinking a knowledge-based economy; fired by information technology, fuelled by telecommunications, and fortified by the fifth-largest aerospace industry in the world. Canada 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 on-line. We also offer sound economic fundamentals: inflation and interest rates are low, growth is strong, and our budget is balanced. Indeed, the Financial Times of London calls Canada the leader in the G-7. The Economist Intelligence Unit agrees, putting Canada among the top five places in the world in which to do business over the next five years. Certainly, the many, many international corporations with investments in Canada wouldn't disagree. Their profits have risen an average of 50 percent over the last two years. And many of them have been attracted by the most generous R & D tax credits in the world. Moreover, Canada is not just a single market of 30 million: it also provides a gateway to a market of hundreds of millions -- and not only to the United States and Mexico, but also to the developing Free Trade Area of the Americas and to the exciting markets of the Pacific Rim. When UAE firms look for a launching pad into these vast markets, we hope that a huge red maple leaf comes to their minds! Let me also mention a study by KPMG, an international consulting company, which compared the cost of doing business in Germany, France, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Canada -- and ranked Canada number one. That study also pointed out that Canada is tied with Sweden for the lowest overall corporate tax rates -- destroying the myth that we are a high-tax environment. In a world where technology allows companies to settle almost anywhere, quality of life considerations become very important in deciding where to set up a business. And for four straight years, the United Nations has ranked Canada's quality of life as the best in the world. So give Canada a look. Talk to the companies represented here today. And consider making your next international investment in a country ideally positioned to benefit from the new economy -- Canada! Working together, I am confident that Dubai and Canada can form partnerships that will create jobs and growth for our people. And I am confident that we can realize the vast potential that lies before us. As I think about that task, I am reminded of a story that is told of that great French marshal, Louis Hubert Lyautey. Marshal Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow-growing and would not reach maturity for many years. The marshal replied, "Then we have no time to lose. Plant it this afternoon." The full maturation of the Dubai-Canada relationship may still be years away. But we have no time to lose. Let us plant our trees today. Thank you. </body> </html>

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