Thank you, Janice.
Thank you, members of the committee, for giving us the opportunity to share our views today on the economic partnership agreement with Japan.
Just as Japan is an important market for Canada, it is also an important market for Manulife. Japan is the second-largest insurance market in the world. Japan is one of Manulife's oldest success stories; in fact, our story dates back to 1901. Today Manulife Japan has its own sales force of more than 3,000 advisers, with an extensive network of eight regional offices and approximately 120 local sales offices across the country. Manulife conducts roughly $4-billion worth of business in Japan per year.
Manulife Japan provides a range of financial protection and wealth management products designed to meet the changing needs of consumers, with two main business lines--an individual insurance business that provides more traditional life and health insurance products to consumers, as well as an annuities business. Manulife was among the first companies to introduce universal life products to Japan.
Last September I accompanied our CEO, Donald Guloien, to Japan to meet with a diverse group of Japanese CEOs who represented a range of sectors to discuss how we could reaffirm our commitment to an EPA between our two countries.
Mr. Guloien led a team of Canadian CEOs that included Duncan Hawthorne of Bruce Power; Ian Smith of Clearwater; Robin Sylvester of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority; John Manley from the Canadian Council of Chief Executives; and David Culver, the former chairman and CEO of Alcan Aluminum.
Our experience was extremely positive, and we quickly realized that we were pushing on an open door. We were well received by all private and public sector representatives with whom we met, and there was a lot of goodwill towards Canada, especially given the immediate assistance provided by both Canadian companies and by our government in the aftermath of the tsunami and earthquake.
Also, the majority of the Japanese CEOs whom we met with had experience doing business with Canada. In that sense they were our natural allies and valuable contacts for all of our companies.
We discussed how to make the most of and enhance our existing relationships, and we came away with the following conclusions. First, Canada and Japan need to pursue a free trade agreement. Second, the agreement should be as ambitious and comprehensive as possible in order to fully leverage our current position in Japan. The agreement needs to cover more than just tariff negotiations. Third, the agreement needs to address other aspects of doing business in Japan. Regulations that govern the insurance and other financial industries need to be internationally benchmarked to ensure compatibility. Also, issues like double taxation and social security should be addressed in order to remove the barriers that dissuade the movement of senior executives. Fourth, there should also be a focus on the elimination of non-tariff barriers, which, according to the European Business Council in Japan, are problematic for foreign businesses to operate on a level playing field in Japan, compared to Japanese companies. Janice will discuss in more detail one particular issue that affects our industry. Finally, dispute resolution mechanisms should be timely and effective. Both of our countries have sophisticated judicial systems that can form the basis of this without creating new and onerous regulations for an already regulated industry.
I thank you for your attention.
Now I hand it back to Janice for the rest of our presentation.