Opening Doors to the World
Canada's International Market Access Priorities - 2006
About This Document
Opening Doors to the World: Canada's
International Market Access
Priorities - 2006 outlines the Government of Canada's priorities for improving
access to foreign markets for Canadian traders and investors through a range
of multilateral, regional and bilateral initiatives in 2006. It also presents
significant market-opening results from 2005 that will benefit Canadian business.
This document is complemented by an online database of existing individual foreign
trade barriers, and can be found at http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/tna-nac/cimap-en.asp.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade coordinated the preparation of this report with the assistance
of Canadian embassies and missions abroad, other federal government departments
(especially Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Finance Canada, Industry Canada
and Natural Resources Canada), provincial and territorial governments and, of
course, Canadians doing business abroad. Its contents are current up to May
2006.
Please visit our online database of foreign commercial barriers at
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/tna-nac/cimap-en.asp
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister
of International Trade, 2006
Catalogue number: IT1-2/2006
ISBN: 0-662-49156-4
Table of Contents
Message from the Minister of International Trade
- Introduction
- Canada's Trade in Goods and Services
- Getting the International Rules Right
- Opening Doors to North America
- Opening Doors to Latin America and the Caribbean
- Opening Doors to Asia
- Opening Doors to Europe
- Opening Doors in Other Key Markets
- Investment
- Glossary of Terms
- List of Acronyms
As Canada's Minister of International
Trade, I am pleased to present the 2006 edition of Opening Doors to the World:
Canada's International Market Access Priorities, which outlines Canada's
market access objectives for 2006 and highlights the many successes achieved
last year.
With an estimated one in five Canadian jobs linked to international trade,
our nation's prosperity clearly depends on success in the global marketplace.
This success is measured far beyond the traditional import and export of goods
and services. It also encompasses investment, commercial collaborations, technology
partnerships and all the other elements of global value chains, including multinational
and regional networks of finance, production and distribution. And by making
Canada a magnet for investment - by supporting Canadian investment in key markets
- we will develop the supply chains necessary to ensure the free flow of trade.
We
are a trading nation, and keeping Canada
competitive means adapting to the new realities of the global marketplace. This
means competitive domestic policies to stimulate investment and innovation,
and an international framework that provides our businesses with the tools,
rules, networks and corridors necessary for them to succeed on the world stage.
It means actively engaging emerging global markets, by establishing new relationships
and trade agreements. And it means re-energizing our commercial relationship
with the United States.
With almost $2 billion in goods and services flowing between our nations every
day, domestic prosperity continues to hinge on a relationship that will continue
to be of paramount importance in the years to come. In 2006, Canada's new government
will take steps to deepen our access to the U.S. market, and work with our American
partners to make North America - as a whole - more competitive.
With that strong foundation in place,
we must continue to reach out to the markets of the world, ensuring that our
businesses and investors are aware of global opportunities and are well equipped
to take advantage of them. We will continue to pursue foreign investment promotion
and protection agreements with China and India. We are working toward a joint
economic framework with Japan and free trade with Korea. And we remain committed
to seeking an ambitious outcome for the World Trade Organization's Doha Development
Agenda negotiations.
This year's edition of Opening Doors to the World introduces a new tool
to help Canadian businesses succeed in the global marketplace: a supplementary
online database of commercial barriers facing Canadian companies abroad, which
is available on the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's
trade negotiations and agreements website at http://www.international.gc.ca/tna-nac/.
I encourage you to consult this website for the most up-to-date information
on how the Government of Canada is helping Canadian businesses and investors
to capture global opportunities and build on the wealth and prosperity that
is so fundamental to our national well-being.
The Honourable David L. Emerson, P.C., M.P.
|
