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 BRIDGING page 66 Michigan's #1 Standards for Excellence Dealer Stk# V093244 Leather seats, cast aluminum wheels, traction control, dual zone climate control, 3.0L 24 valve V-6 200 H.P. engine. 30 on'00dw 39$6 10 on 39 Stk4 V243 I32 Heated seats, chrome wheels, leather seats, salty/security package. 6 Mnh SAEFS $5 0 on'00dw 48 ' 10 on $1 Additional $500 Lease Renewal Incentive for current Cadillac Smart seats, safty/security 3 ot MIUES package, memory/ personalization package. 46 '00dw 20 on'00dw $7 56 GMAC Smartlease 36 months, 1st pymt., ref. sec. dep. of $600 or less, down pyme. as shown above, new plates or transfer fee, admin- istration fee due on delivery. State & Lux. tax additional. Mileage limitation of 36,000 miles. 150/mile excess charge over limitation. Lessee has option to purchase at lease end for pre determained price. To get total pymt., multiply pymt. by no. of months. General Motors RINKE CADILLAC Famify-i- 1917 1-696 AT VAN DYKE li Irateling ost on 1.06, ail Hooter, idol+ Service Drite to I/ of 4, MASTER DEALER t$1, DEDICATE° TO EXCEtLENC E 758-1800 li trawling east on 1.06, till Ian Dtke; take to second bridge pail k Dike °ter etpressItat to RI\hf Open Mon. 7-9 p.m., Tues. 7-7 p.m., Wed. 7-7 p.m., Thurs. 7-9 p.m., Fri. 7-6 p.m.