Team
Canada '98 to Latin America largest ever
By David Kilgour, Secretary of State (Latin
America & Africa)
January 1998
Team Canada
trade missions represent a relatively new
trend in Canada's approach to international
business development -- they combine the
efforts of the Prime Minister and premiers
with business people to promote Canadian
goods and services abroad. Participants
include young entrepreneurs, university
deans, arts/ culture/tourism promoters.
The first
three Team Canada missions were to Asia:
to China in 1994; to India, Pakistan, Indonesia
and Malaysia in 1996; and South Korea, the
Philippines and Thailand in 1997. A major
trade mission visited Argentina, Chile and
Brazil in 1995.
Canadian
firms have concluded nearly 550 new business
deals during these missions. They also have
helped more than 1,000 companies to gain
access to government and private sectors
leaders in rapidly expanding markets. According
to surveys of Team Canada participants in
1996 and 1997, the majority felt that the
missions had added momentum to their business
efforts and that their company had benefited
from the mission.
Latin America
The Team Canada trip in January 1998 to
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile was
the largest ever undertaken, with close
to 500 companies, a record 64 women entrepreneurs,
35 young entrepreneurs and four indigenous
business leaders. Alberta's contingent was
third-largest in size, but it brought back
the biggest returns in terms of contracts
signed. The fast liberalizing economies
of Latin America have become priorities
for further trade and investment links.
In addition, we are also building long-term,
institutional links.
Mexico
During the mission's first stop in Mexico
City - home to about 13 million people-Canadian
businesses and educational institutions
signed 91 business deals worth $229.9 million.
In addition, TransCanada of Calgary has
concluded two agreements that pave the way
for work to begin on the construction of
the Energia Mayakan Gas Pipeline. The pipeline
will deliver natural gas to several power
plants in the states of Campeche and Yucatan
in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Mexico is
Canada's largest trading partner in Latin
America. From 1994 through 1996, two-way
trade grew by 30 per cent to $7.3 billion.
Over the same period, Canadian exports rose
by 66 per cent to reach $1.25 billion. Canada's
access to the Mexican market has increased
considerably since 1994, when NAFTA came
into force. Canadian firms now have increasingly
barrier-free access to a market of over
90 million consumers and are expanding sales
in the automotive, financial services, trucking,
energy and fisheries sectors.
Brazil
Brazil was our next destination. Cosmopolitan,
frenzied and sometimes violent, Sao Paulo
is Brazil's largest industrial park, generating
more than 30% of the country's GDP. In the
early 1990s, Brazil scared off many foreign
investors as a result of its worst bout
of near-hyperinflation. Today, after several
years under president Fernando Henrique
Cardoso's Real Plan, big firms are starting
to renew their interest.
Brazil is
one of only ten world markets where Canadian
exports exceed $1 billion a year. Our bilateral
trade has increased since 1995 to over $2.5
billion a year. Companies entering new business
relationships in Brazil represent a wide
range of sectors from natural resources
to high technology.
In Sao Paulo,
we opened the Canadian Education Centre
-- the 12th such Centre in the world. The
Brazilian education market is the largest
in South America and continues to grow.
Forty five percent of the country's population
- 66 million people -- are of school age.
More than 250,000 students currently study
English in Brazil and the number of Brazilians
studying in Canada has grown steadily from
656 students in 1994 to over 1000 in 1997.
(Continued
in Part 2)
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