Good morning, my name is Paul Robertson. I'm the department's director general of North American trade policy.
After 13 years of growing trilateral trade and investment, NAFTA continues to be the cornerstone of our trade investment relationship with the United States and Mexico. NAFTA has served Canada, the United States, and Mexico well. It has stimulated growth, raised standards of living, and delivered competitive prices for consumers. It is now a mature agreement that is largely implemented. In this respect, the completion of tariff liberalization in 2008 will establish virtually tariff-free trade in North America, and the agreement has proven to be of significant benefit for the trading community.
Also, throughout the years, the different NAFTA working groups have continued to pursue work plans that facilitate the free flow of goods, services, and capital, and that strengthen North American competitiveness. As shown earlier by my colleague, the benefits of that work are tangible.
The United States is our largest trading partner, and this relationship is almost completely dispute free. Canada is committed to working closely with the United States to strengthen North American competitiveness and to further improve the largest and most comprehensive trading relationship in the world. Certain trade irritants exist, and we will continue to defend Canadian interests as required. But they do not define the relationship, and both sides continue to work collaboratively to achieve results.
Our trade relations with Mexico are also strong. This is now a well-established economic relationship and we are working with Mexico to advance issues of common interest, including through the Canada-Mexico Partnership.
It is, however, important not to take all this success for granted. With the emergence of global competition by countries like China, India and Brazil, we need to work with the United States and Mexico to further increase North American competitiveness and prosperity, so that we are well positioned to compete in the new trading environment.
To this end, at the last NAFTA commission meeting in March 2006, the three ministers of trade directed officials to identify opportunities to achieve concrete, commercially relevant results that will continue to ease the flow of goods, services, and capital between our three countries.
Specifically, they initiated work that will focus on sectors and the removal of impediments to the free flow of goods, services, and capital. They mandated officials to conduct a thorough review of the operations of the NAFTA working groups and committees to see if the efficiency of these institutions could be further improved. Finally, they also asked officials to examine how our three countries might collaborate in trade agreements with other countries, and how elements of new FTAs might inform improvements to NAFTA practices, such as transparency and trade facilitation. For example, there have been incredible advances in communication technology, such as the Internet, since NAFTA was developed, and the agreement's practices could be improved by making better use of such technologies.
Overall, the North America trade environment has changed significantly during the last decade. While there have been important improvements, and NAFTA is still a crucial instrument, we must ensure that we continue to work together to meet tomorrow's challenges.
To summarize, through our efforts on advocacy and trade policy, and through the services we provide to Canadian businesses, both in Canada and with our network of missions, we are helping them succeed in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. As a result of these ongoing efforts, we will continue to work to achieve sustainable prosperity for all Canadians.
Thank you. We would now be happy to take questions from the Committee.