Canada
and the World (Moscow)
Notes for
an address by Hon. David Kilgour Secretary
of State (Latin America and Africa)
M.P. Edmonton Southeast
Moscow State Institute of International
Relations, Moscow
October 13, 2000
Canada and
Russia - Natural Partners
I have visited Russia before and am always
struck by the similarities between our two
countries. We are natural partners in so
many areas. We are neighbors across the
Arctic. We are the world’s two largest
federations - with multicultural populations
spread across two vast territories. We have
a strong role to play in the global arena
-- be it in the United Nations, APEC or
the G-8.
When President
Putin travels to Canada in December, he
will be visiting a country with whom Russia
trades, negotiates and consults on a range
of bilateral and international issues. Canadian
businesspeople will be eager to hear his
strategies to open Russian markets to greater
foreign investment as well as sharing opportunities
for Russian trade to Canada. The people
of Canada will also be interested in knowing
how Canada and Russia will work together
-- on arms control and disarmament, UN reform,
Russia’s accession to the World Trade
Organization and cooperation in the North.
Our Northern
agenda includes joint initiatives on environmental
monitoring, self-government, transportation,
aboriginal businesses, electrical utilities
and oil and gas. For instance, we are seeking
to increase the use of northern sea routes
between Murmansk and the Canadian port of
Churchill, and are pioneering the commercial
use of polar air routes. In June 1998, Governor
Alexander Lebed and other officials boarded
a demonstration flight from Krasnoyarsk
to Toronto. Just this week, NAV Canada –
the private sector company that runs Canada’s
air navigation system – has released
a joint feasibility study on polar air routes
undertaken with the Russian Federal Aviation
Authority.
Their conclusion?
Polar routes can save travellers hours of
precious time and airlines millions of dollars.
Flying over the north pole can shave five
hours from the flying time from New York
to Hong Kong. The economic potential is
clear. As the two principal guardians of
the north, including polar airspace, Canada
and Russia can realize this potential together.
Canada’s
commitment to partnership with Russia in
the Arctic and North has deep roots. Our
governments have been active on northern
cooperation projects together for almost
40 years. Our lines of mutual support and
supply during the Second World War were
also, principally, northern. Today, our
links to the Russian North also flow from
the growing weight of the Americas in our
international relations: the corridor of
links we are enlarging via deep engagement
with the USA, access to Mexico through NAFTA
and intensifying relationships throughout
the rest of Latin America have a natural
link back to Eurasia through Russia’s
North.
As a natural
complement to our ties as Atlantic, Pacific
and Arctic states, Canada and Russia continue
to exchange knowledge and experience as
federal states. Canada’s technical
assistance programme for Russia, to which
approximately $150 million (Cdn) has been
committed, includes funding for the Consortium
for Economic Policy Research and Advice (CEPRA), a three-year project involving
policy-makers, think tanks and universities
that is bringing Canadian expertise to bear
on Russian efforts to reform its framework
for fiscal federalism, the budgetary and
tax relationships between regions and the
federal centre. Other initiatives include
the active Russia-Canada Parliamentary Program,
a joint undertaking designed to exchange
ideas and practices on parliamentary procedure,
and the Yeltsin Democracy Fellowship
Programme,
which provides specialized training to dozens
of Russian officials from across the federation
every year.
Maxim Medvedkov,
a graduate of your university, has recently
been appointed Deputy Minister and Russia’s
chief negotiator for accession to the World
Trade Organization (WTO). You may not know
that prior to this he was General Director
of the Centre for Trade Policy and Law Moscow,
a body established with Canadian funding
and strategic Canadian partners to expand
Russian trade policy capacity.
Admittedly,
trade and investment activity between Canada
and Russia remains far below potential.
But while gross trade figures may have fallen
over the past decade, our commercial relationship
has diversified. During the Soviet era,
Canadian exports to Russia consisted almost
exclusively of grain, but now we are active
in housing, mining, oil and gas, communications
and high technology. In the past, the Canada-Russia
Intergovernmental Economic Commission was
co-chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister
responsible for agriculture. Now, Deputy
Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko is responsible
for this portfolio. This change is emblematic
of our broader and more diverse and trading
relationship.
The last
plenary session of the Canada-Russia Intergovernmental
Economic Commission, which took place in
June 2000, gave a strong signal for the
future. Canada’s co-chair, Trade Minister
Pierre Pettigrew, led a large Canadian business
delegation to Russia, and over $800 million
in commercial contracts were signed. Canadian
direct investment in Russia, which has reached
$1.25 billion, offers great potential for
employment and industry in both countries.
Foreign policy
and key areas of cooperation will be at
the centre of talks between President Putin
and Prime Minister Chrétien in Ottawa
in December. Recent events in the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia demonstrate the importance
of coordination at the highest levels on
the fast-moving international scene. As
the Yugoslav people took control of their
own destiny, the international community
played an important role by sending the
right signals to the winners and losers
in the election and to the entire Yugoslav
population. Russia was an important player
in this process and Canada applauds Russia’s
support for peace, stability and democracy.
We hope to continue this cooperation as
the international community supports the
transition to democratic government and
the long and difficult process of political
and economic reconstruction in Yugoslavia.
Human Security
- A 21st Century Priority
In Canada we have been extremely fortunate
to live in a land of peace. But we are a
country of immigrants and global issues
resonate among the various communities of
people in Canada. This has been particularly
true since the end of the Cold War as traditional
concepts of state security have been redefined.
As Russia’s new military doctrine itself
recognizes, "there has been a decline
in the threat of large scale war".
As the threat of state- to- state conflict
and superpower rivalry has decreased, so
the threat of conflict within states themselves
has increased. Moreover, people worldwide
are facing life-and-death issues of genocide,
threats to the environment, trafficking
in illegal drugs and terrorism.
For perhaps
the first time, the safety of people, not
states, is Canada’s paramount concern
internationally. In our view, human security
is protecting the peoples of a shrinking
planet from violent threats.
Human security
does not override national security: it
is complementary. At the same time it recognizes
that governments are no longer the only
players on the world stage. Civil society
and the private sector also play central
roles. The tragic fate of the nuclear submarine
"Kursk" is a case in point showing
the roles that media, non-governmental organizations
and the general public play in government
decision-making. When lives are at stake,
people come together.
These ideals
of human security are particularly important
in Africa and Latin America, the two regions
of my mandate. Stability, safety and prosperity
in these areas are important to Canada and
to Russia. Most of the 53 nations of Africa
have waged a continuous battle with poverty
and war; it is now a continent that is changing
rapidly. For some people the images that
spring to mind when one thinks of Africa
are war and starvation; little children
with stomachs sticking out due to malnutrition.
But Africa has so much more to offer: Canada
is embracing that change and is committed,
as demonstrated by our Prime Minister’s
trip to Africa last fall, to developing
closer ties with many of the countries on
the continent.
The past
decade has been a period of significant,
if sometimes uneven, political, economic
and social progress in the Americas. It
has also been a time in which Canada’s
relations with the hemisphere, historically
tentative and inconsistent, have grown both
deeper and substantially more diverse. In
1990, Canada became the 33rd member of the
Organization of American States (OAS), recognizing
that increased political and economic liberalization
was transforming the region, offering improved
prospects for closer political relations
and creating new opportunities for Canadian
business. As well, it was becoming clear
that there was a growing need and new space
for effective regional cooperation on transnational
issues such as the drug trade and the environment.
The challenge
for Canada is to find ways to achieve the
human security agenda in these regions in
a concrete way.
Human Security
in Practice
Human security is not just an idea or a
theory. It is a framework of mechanisms.
They include the landmine ban, protection
of war-affected children, the International
Criminal Court, the International Commission
on Intervention and State Sovereignty, and
tools to fight organized crime and illicit
drug trafficking. Certain threats to human
security often cannot be solved by one county
in isolation. The co-operation of many like-minded
countries is essential to achieve more durable
solutions.
Canada has
promoted our human security agenda in a
number of venues. First, through our membership
in numerous international organizations,
including the United Nations, the Organization
of American States, the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe and
the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.
Several notable accomplishments have pushed
this concept to the forefront of world attention.
Prevention
is always the preferred approach to human
security. But, sometimes in major crises,
gross violations of human rights and crimes
against humanity will call for intervention
by the international community. In this
vein, Canada launched the International
Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty
last month. This initiative will facilitate
an international climate to address questions
of state sovereignty and international responsibility
and the appropriate international reaction
to large and systematic violations of human
rights and crimes against humanity. The
Commission responds to UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan’s challenge to ensure that
the indifference and inaction of the international
community in situations such as Rwanda and
Srebernica are no longer an option. Vladimir
Lukin, Deputy head of the Yabloko faction,
has agreed to act as a Commissioner representing
Russia.
If human
security is to be safeguarded, a culture
of impunity-wherever it prevails- must be
replaced by a culture of accountability.
This is what drives Canada’s strong
advocacy for the creation of an International
Criminal Court, a court with the power to
prosecute the most serious crimes: genocide
and war crimes. 114 states have signed on
this statute and 21 have ratified. The International
Criminal Court will enter into force when
it has been ratified by 60 states. Canada
has demonstrated its commitment by being
the first country to incorporate the provisions
of the statute into domestic law. The International
Criminal Court has become a central international
institution of human security.
Canada’s
efforts to ban landmines, globally is a
practical and powerful example of the principles
of human security. The December 1997 signing
of the Ottawa Convention, officially known
as the Convention on the Prohibition of
the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer
of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction,
was a historic moment. To date, 138 states
have signed this convention; 107 have ratified.
Russia embraced the Ottawa Process by banning
landmine exports and undertaking eventually
to sign the Convention. To ensure these
death traps continue to disappear, we are
looking to President Putin for a timetable
for signature and for action on destroying
Russian stockpiles.
There has
been strong support in the Americas for
Canada’s anti-personnel landmines campaign.
To date, there are 33 signatories and 27
ratifications of the Ottawa Convention.
Canada was also instrumental in the creation
of a voluntary fund for de-mining on the
Peru-Ecuador border. De-mining activities
also continue in Central America, with the
goal of making the hemisphere a landmine-free
zone in the near future.
The recent
War Affected Children’s conference
in Winnipeg, Manitoba is another example
of human security in action. In the past
decade alone, over two million children
have had their young lives cut short by
war, and another five million have been
left physically disabled. There are incredibly
now about 300,000 child soldiers participating
in conflicts around the world, either forcibly
or voluntarily recruited.
Canada was
proud to host the first global conference
to address this terrible plight, bringing
together war-affected youth, experts, and
government leaders. We were pleased to see
an agreement reached on the release of 16
persons abducted by the Lord’s Resistance
Army in Sudan and a 14-point Agenda for
War-Affected Children, which creates a check-list
of all of the issues that States must consider
when examining the issue of children and
armed conflict and provides a framework
for further international action.
At a time
when the HIV/AIDS pandemic is sweeping the
African continent, leaving graveyards of
millions in its wake, debt burdens have
severely constrained what African governments
can afford to spend on health care. 70%
of all people in the world infected with
HIV live in Africa, and 5,500 Africans die
daily of the disease, which totals more
than the number of Africans killed in war.
The Canadian government is responding to
this crisis by providing an additional $50
million to support projects to fight AIDS
in each region of Africa.
A key element
of human security is education. In Africa,
education campaigns about AIDS and landmines
compliment a larger education drive on the
continent which seeks to enhance knowledge
mobility and bridge the digital divide.
In an age of internet connectivity and computer
facilitated learning, not all of our children
are being given the chance to compete on
an even playing field. When only 0.4% of
Sub-Saharan Africans are linked to the internet,
closing the knowledge gap becomes critical
to development. In this new century the
industrial economy of any country will only
be as strong as the skills of its workforce.
We live in a world in which a web site is
created every four seconds!
Canada is
a leading provider of information technology.
We have just seen the last school in Canada
connected to the internet. In March of this
year I led a Learning and Technology Mission
to South Africa with leading educators,
private sector companies and human resource
trainers in order to develop links with
South African counterparts. This is part
of our long term strategy in education capacity
building in Africa.
A major theme
of Canadian policy towards the African continent
is conflict resolution and the protection
of civilians in armed conflict. As we are
all aware, many African states are mired
in conflict, with the ‘arc of crisis’
stretching from Angola to the Upper Nile
basin. Africa currently accounts for half
of the world’s war-related deaths and
struggles to assist eight million refugees.
A dozen major wars, and twice as many rumbling
insurrections continue to cause widespread
devastation throughout the continent. While
it is true that there will be no peace without
development, there will also be no development
without peace. Canada has to engage in conflict
resolution on the continent in a more active
and comprehensive way in the coming years.
In July this
year I visited the Great Lakes region of
Central Africa in order to assess the prospects
for peace, and reiterate Canada’s support
for the Lusaka Peace Agreement in the Democratic
Republic of Congo and the peace process
in Burundi. The conflict in the DRC threatens
to destabilize the entire region. At least
nine rebel groups are using the DRC as a
springboard to launch attacks into neighbouring
countries and six neighbouring states have
their troops positioned within DRC territory.
The country has become a virtual playground
for self-enrichment with its rich deposits
of diamonds, gold and other natural resources.
In support
of the Lusaka Peace Agreement Canada has
committed $2.5 million to support the Joint
Military Commission, the national dialogue
and the demobilization and reintegration
of child soldiers. A further $1.2 million
has been provided for the Arusha Peace Process
in Burundi under the facilitation of Nelson
Mandela.
We are also
aware of the urgent need to prevent conflict
diamonds from filling the coffers of rebel
groups operating not only in the DRC but
in other conflict zones on the continent.
Canadian and Russian officials have participated
actively in the G-8 and recent multilateral
meetings concerning the trade in conflict
diamonds. We hope to work closely with Russia,
the world’s second largest producer
of diamonds, to devise a certification scheme
for such diamonds that can be effectively
and forcefully implemented.
The human
security agenda obviously has a role in
Chechnya. You have seen too often the faces
of kidnapping victims on your television
screens. Civilians - Russians, Chechens
and foreigners - must be protected in all
ways possible during a conflict. They must
be educated about the dangers of land mines
and they need to have housing, schools,
hospitals, jobs and normal life restored
as soon as possible after a conflict. Canada
has provided $4 million to the UN and the
Red Cross for their work in Ingushetia and
Chechnya and we hope that the OSCE Assistance
Group will be able to return to Chechnya
soon.
Canada has
vigorously supported efforts to combat the
western hemispheric trade in illicit drugs.
As an envoy in the Canadian-led Hemispheric
Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue on Drugs,
an initiative which sought to examine the
problem of illicit drugs from a human security
perspective, I have spoken with officials
throughout the region responsible for dealing
with this problem and seen the terrible
impact of substance abuse first-hand.
Canada has
been an active member of the OAS’s
Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission
(CICAD). Last year, Canada’s former
Deputy Solicitor General, Jean Fournier,
chaired an Intergovernmental Working Group
composed of representatives from all OAS
member states that developed an innovative
new anti-drug initiative called the Multilateral
Evaluation Mechanism (MEM). The MEM, as
it is known, will allow member states to
review multilaterally progress in the fight
against all aspects of the illicit drug
trade, including money laundering and the
production and trafficking of small arms.
The results of the first round of the MEM
will be presented to Leaders at the Third
Summit of the Americas in Quebec City next
April.
Canada has
also been active on other matters related
to Western hemispheric security. Canada
was the driving force behind the Inter-American
Convention on Transparency in Conventional
Weapons Acquisitions and has also proposed
that the OAS develop a declaration on all
aspects of the accumulation and transfer
of small arms and light weapons. Canada
has also been an active participant in a
Hemispheric Security Review currently being
conducted by the OAS Committee on Hemispheric
Security. The purpose behind the review
is to improve and streamline the instruments
of the hemispheric security system, many
of which are outdated or have an insufficiently
broad mandate to deal effectively with the
increasingly diverse nature of security
challenges.
Canada took
the opportunity provided as host of the
most recent OAS General Assembly, which
took place last June in Windsor, Ontario,
to highlight human security through a Ministerial
dialogue on the subject. The depth of hemispheric
engagement with the concept was impressive
as many delegations saw human security as
speaking to their interests. The focus on
people that is central to the human security
concept was endorsed by many as a useful
new perspective on many of the important
issues currently confronting the OAS and
as an instrument for responding to them.
Canada sees
its future security and prosperity increasingly
linked to the peoples of Latin America and
the Caribbean. The nations of the Americas
are no longer simply a collection of countries
united by proximity; rather we are being
transformed into a community of nations
linked by common values and aspirations.
Canada is in the process of building the
strong relationships essential to tackle
the economic and social challenges facing
the entire region today.
Development
and Prosperity
Human security is not possible without economic
development. Canada has pushed for deeper,
broader and faster debt relief for African
countries. Mass action is required to alleviate
unmanageable debt burdens where many African
countries find themselves paying more than
60% of revenues generated from exports to
donors and commercial lenders. Canada has
forgiven $39 million of debt for Senegal,
Benin, Mali, Mozambique and Burkina Faso.
Recently Finance Minister Paul Martin publicly
pressed creditor countries to write off
additional debt as a part of a multilateral
drive towards debt reduction.
A key element
in our foreign policy towards African states
is trade promotion. It is the firm belief
of the Canadian government that economic
diplomacy will be the engine which drives
forward the African renaissance. Increased
trade will spur economic growth, create
jobs, and help to alleviate poverty - both
in Canada and in our partner nations. Our
investment on the continent tripled over
the last decade, and two-way trade now exceeds
$2 billion. Over the last few years it has
been countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, not
Asia or Latin America, that have led the
world in percentage economic growth.
Earlier this
year, Canada hosted Africa Direct, which
brought African business people and government
representatives to Canada to forge links
with the private sector in this country.
The success of this event has paved the
way for much closer engagement with our
partners in Africa on the trade front.
The countries
of Latin America and the Caribbean are also
increasingly important trading partners.
In 1999, two way trade was over $C 20 billion.
While Canada is an active participant in
discussions on the development of a Free
Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which
we hope will be completed by 2005, we have
also embarked on a number of bilateral or
regional free trade agreements, including
the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
which Canada entered into with Mexico and
the USA in 1994. Canada is currently in
the process of negotiating two additional
free trade agreements, one with Costa Rica
and another, announced just last month,
with the Central American countries of Nicaragua,
Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Canada’s
increased engagement with our hemispheric
partners is exemplified by the fact that,
beginning with the Pan American Games in
1999, Canada has played host to a series
of important hemispheric meetings. These
include the Conference of Spouses of Heads
of State and Government, the Free Trade
Area of the Americas Trade Ministerial,
the Americas Business Forum and the aforementioned
OAS General Assembly. The hosting of these
meetings has laid the groundwork for the
Third Summit of the Americas, which will
see the Leaders of the region’s democracies
gather in Quebec City in April, 2001 for
three days of discussion on key issues affecting
the region.
As Canada’s
Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien, noted
at the Windsor General Assembly, "For
Canada, the idea of La Gran Familia is about
shared prosperity and well-being. A growing
economy, good jobs and the promise of a
new opportunity are the pillars of a secure
society - and a secure hemisphere."
Conclusion
Our former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott
Trudeau passed away recently. He was a highly
respected man nationally and internationally
and the outpouring of emotion across our
country after his death was unlike anything
we have seen. He was also a key architect
of our modern relationship with Russia,
and of Canada’s approach to international
relations. When one looks at the features
of a modern Canada -- bilingualism, multiculturalism,
the Charter of Rights and Freedoms –
one sees the impact of Trudeau’s vision.
First and
foremost, Canada is committed to putting
people first, whether they live in Moscow,
Durban or Santiago. Across the North and
through the whole breadth of relations,
Russians and Canadians are equal members
of La Gran Familia. We believe that in order
to ensure freedom, stability and prosperity
for all, nations must work together to address
threats and potential threats to human security.
Our foreign policy is a reflection of this
overriding conviction.
At no time
in history has this approach been more relevant.
Globalization is bringing us closer together
than ever before. It provides the impetus
for us, as global citizens, to work collectively
to seek a brighter future for all inhabitants
of this planet. Must not all of us look
to the future and ensure that the tragedies
of the past century- the most violent ever-
will not be repeated.
Thank you.
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