No. H 094/07
For release May 17, 2007

CANADA'S NEW GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES FIRST
AIR TRANSPORT AGREEMENT WITH KUWAIT

OTTAWA — The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, and the Honourable David Emerson, Minister of International Trade, today announced Canada's first air transport agreement with the State of Kuwait for scheduled air services.

"I am pleased to have in place a first-time air transport agreement between Canada and the State of Kuwait," said Minister Cannon. "With direct air links, this agreement will provide more choice and benefits for travellers, air carriers and airports, and will contribute to increasing the bilateral air travel market."

"Air transportation is an important contributor to enhancing trade links and as such, is a key element of the Government's competitiveness strategy," said Minister Emerson. "The State of Kuwait is a long-time partner and a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This agreement will create more opportunities for two-way trade and investment between Canada and GCC countries, which are wealthy and rapidly-growing economies."

The GCC includes the most prosperous countries in the Middle East — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. These countries have nearly 50 per cent of the world's proven oil reserves, are experiencing a very high rate of economic growth, and may provide major business opportunities for Canada.

Under this first-time agreement, carriers from both countries are permitted to serve destinations of their choice in the other country. The agreement provides rights for each country to designate any number of carriers to operate scheduled air services between the two countries, and includes a flexible pricing regime, as well as strong safety and security provisions. The agreement also provides for a flexible regime for all-cargo services.

In addition to operating their own aircraft, carriers can provide code-sharing services with no limitations on frequency of flights. Code-sharing is a type of air service where an airline uses the flights of other airlines for transportation for a portion of a passenger's trip.

This new agreement, which takes effect immediately, is the first to be finalized with a member of the GCC following the Government's recently announced Blue Sky international air transportation policy.

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