Canada:
A Northern Tiger
Remarks for
the Hon. David Kilgour,
Secretary
Of State (Asia-Pacific) & MP Edmonton
Southeast
At the Canada
Luncheon
Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit,
Hotel Taj
Residency
Hyderabad,
India, January
7, 2003
Ladies and
gentlemen, on behalf of my colleague Derek
Lee, Member of Parliament for Scarborough-Rouge
River, and the rest of Canada’s delegation,
welcome to our Canada lunch; we’re
delighted you could join us.
If you’ll
allow me to quote German philosopher Max
Mueller, “If I were asked under what
sky the human mind has most fully developed
some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply
pondered on the greatest problems of life,
and has found solutions, I should point
to India.”
This is ashamedly
my first visit to India. I can honestly
say that I have been captured by it. Our
Deputy High Commissioner Brian Dickson rightly
calls India one of the most fascinating
countries on earth.
There are
so many reasons I’d like to return
often. Our two nations have a long history
of economic, political, and cultural partnership.
Our links through the Commonwealth, our
authentic democratic traditions, our respect
for the rule of law and independent judges,
and our “peoples bridge” as created
by the nearly 1,000,000 strong Indo-Canadian
community, has woven our societies together
and built a strong and growing strategic
partnership.
Indian investment
in Canada
One new development
is the recent investment of some of India’s
leading Information Technology companies
in Canada. Your software and related services
exports alone exceeded US$8 billion last
year and will likely cross the US$50 billion
mark by 2008. Canada has begun to reap some
of the benefits of this startling growth.
To date, Wipro Technologies, Infosys, HCL
Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services
have set up Global Development Centres in
Canada. This will allow them to serve customers
across North America and the entire hemisphere.
Such investment
is beneficial to both India and Canada because
trade clearly follows investment. As Canadian
investors are exposed to trail-blazing Indian
IT firms, they in turn will look more favourably
to investing in India. Permit me to offer
you a brief snapshot of why these Indian
firms have publically decided to invest
in Canada.
Canada’s
World Class Economy
Canada is
a member of the G-8 and is a world-class
economy. We are also one of the world’s
most open societies. We have a built a multi-cultural
and multi-lingual society; in Derek Lee’s
constituency, for example, three out of
four residents are born outside of Canada.
With a population
of 31 million, Canada is the world’s
sixth largest trading nation, accounting
for about 4-1/2% of global trade. We are
by far the largest trading partner for the
U.S., with two-way trade in excess of US$1.2
billion every day of the year! It is not
just primary products that we export; in
fact, our top exports are autos, auto-parts,
aircraft and aerospace parts, telecommunication
and electronic equipment and power equipment,
besides pulp & paper, newsprint, grains,
peas and pulses, and many other primary
products.
After nine
years of economic expansion, driven by our
“new economy” sectors like information
technology, life sciences and aerospace,
Canada continues to out-perform most OECD
economies. Four successive years of fiscal
surplus has allowed our government to cut
taxes and to invest in health care, higher
education and high-end infrastructure, paving
the way for rapid economic growth. Interest
rates and inflation remain at low levels.
Skilled Labour
Force
We are particularly
proud of our skilled labour force. The Global
Competitiveness Report 2000 ranked Canada
first in the world in developing knowledge
workers. We have the highest rate of post-secondary
enrolment in the world. Nearly half of Canadians
over age 25 have completed post-secondary
studies at universities, colleges or technical
schools.
We are also
proud of our technological infrastructure.
Canadians use the Internet more than any
other people, and we have the highest-speed
research network in the world. The Canadian
Network for the Advancement of Research,
Industry and Education (CANARIE) built and
operates the world’s longest, fastest
and most advanced fibre optic research and
education network. Virtually all our schools
and public libraries are connected to the
internet, making Canada one of the most
connected nations in the world.
Competitiveness
KPMG, the
global accounting and management firm, conducted
a study recently on the costs of doing business
in nine countries: the U.S., Canada, the
UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands
and Austria. It covered nine manufacturing
sectors, including aerospace, auto parts,
telecom & electronics, pharmaceuticals,
chemicals, plastics, agri-food, and building
products, as well as software design and
web development and R&D research and
product testing. The study found that the
Canadian locations were the most cost-effective
among all the nations surveyed.
There is
also our access to the world’s richest
market, the United States. Thanks to NAFTA,
businesses based in Canada have hassle-free,
duty-free access to the U.S. and Mexico,
our NAFTA partners, making it the world’s
largest trading zone. Setting up in Canada
will give you access to a trading zone of
over 400 million people and a combined economy
of $9.4 trillion. In addition, our bilateral
free trade agreements with Chile, Israel
and Costa Rica, and our privileged access
to the European Union mean that Canada is
an excellent country to do business in and
from.
The current
negotiations towards a Free Trade Area of
the Americas by 2005 would see the forging
of one unified trading area for the Western
Hemisphere. Our membership in APEC opens
up windows of opportunity in the Asia-Pacific.
Conclusion
In short,
Canada has much to offer Indian business
as a partner. Our business peoples make
good win-win business partners, whether
in trade, services, investment or strategic
alliances. India is currently the world’s
11th largest economy. Canada is the 8th
largest economy and a major trading nation.
And yet, why are we each only the other’s
25th largest trading partner? This certainly
speaks to the enormous potential for growth
that exists in the trade relations between
our two countries. Our two-way trade is
just over C$2 billion, and it is showing
signs of solid growth in recent months.
The absolute level of our current two-way
trade is a far cry from the potential. We
hope to see our trade with India rise and
do so quickly.
My colleagues,
the Ministers of International Trade and
of Natural Resources, have each led substantial
trade missions to India in the last ten
months. Pierre Pettigrew, our Minister of
International Trade, led the largest Canadian
trade mission ever to India, composed of
166 individuals, last April.
But, as we
all know, it is not just trade. Our companies
should use each other’s markets as
jumping points into neighbouring markets
– Indian companies could use Canada
as the gateway to the NAFTA market and Canadian
firms use India as the entry-point to South
Asia.
Canada is
also an excellent destination for higher
education with world-class universities
offering education at very reasonable costs.
The U.S.-based Gourman Report found that
eight of North America’s top 20 Electrical
& Computer Engineering faculties are
in Canada. We hope that even more Indian
students and their parents would look at
Canada as an attractive, cost-effective
and high-value destination for education.
Ladies and
gentlemen, thank you for joining us for
lunch. I would be delighted to take some
questions.
-30-
|
