For the Second
Year in a Row...
numbers. I see great opportuni-
ties here for Canadians to do
business with Israelis and Pales-
tinians, and for Israelis to do
business with Palestinians.
You've just met Palestin-
ian Authority Minister of
Economy and Trade Maher
Masri. What did you discuss?
We focused on free trade be-
tween Canada and the areas of
the Palestinian Authority. We
have offered similar arrange-
ments to those we have with Is-
rael. Nothing has been signed
yet.
We will continue those dis-
cussions over the next couple of
months, and we hope to sign an
agreement in May. We've agreed
on general principles of the
agreement.
We can sign a framework, but
the business community needs
to make the contracts and car-
ry out the increasing trade and
investment opportunities, and
there needs to be some capacity
for the Palestinians. We also
hope to continue providing tech-
nical cooperation and assistance
programs, so they are in a po-
sition to take advantage of a
free-trade agreement.
Is this just a case of Cana-
da having to be seen doing
the right thing, or do you ac-
tually have something to
gain economically?
Our dependence on trade
means we need to open markets
around the world. We want to
diversify, we don't want contin-
ual dependence on our U.S.
trade. It creates jobs for us and
in the countries where we es-
tablish markets. A lot of these
markets may not be strong now,
[but they may] become strong
some day, and we'll have a good
strong presence when that hap-
pens.
Secondly, we are strong sup-
porters of the peace process. We
want it to succeed. I firmly be-
lieve we're not going to have
peace and security unless we
have economic growth and job
creation. Unless Palestinians
have the opportunity to earn a
living, put food on the table, a
roof over their heads, clothes on
their backs for them and their
families, we're never going to get
to a point of peace.
Back to Canadian-Israeli
relations. What effects is the
free-trade agreement having
on bilateral business?
Well, we only have modest
two-way trade now, about $500
million. I think this
will help increase
that figure.
But let me say
this, I don't believe
that $500 million in-
dicates the true pic-
ture. There have
been some Canadi-
an companies that
have used American
affiliates or sub-
sidiaries to manu-
facture products
and send them into
Israel under the
U.S.-Israel free-
trade agreement.
The Canada-Israel
agreement means
we now have an
even playing field.
There are also
some peculiarities.
The automobiles
that are here from
North America,
most people think
are American, be-
cause they are Gen-
eral Motors, Ford or
Chrysler, but a lot of those are
manufactured fully in Canada.
We also have the advantage of
people who are already doing
business here, have investments
or joint ventures.
Those people become good ex-
amples for others to follow, and
we've got a lot of other busi-
nesspeople here who can build
on those successes under this
free-trade arrangement.
I expect in a very few years
that trade will double, I expect
it to increase substantially.
But can you name any big
deals apart from that be-
tween Telrad and Nortel
(Northern Telecom)?
One could mention David
Azrieli and the Shalom building
project and SuperPharm. But let
me stress, we also want to pro-
mote our small- and medium-
sized businesses.
Yesterday I went to the open-
ing of a coffee shop, The Second
Cup, which is a Canadian suc-
cess story, with franchises all
over North America. From here
they'll also have easy access to
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