International Trade Committee on March 18th, 2013

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS]

It's a long question.

[H.E. Roberto Cristian Ibarra Garcia]

I know.

Well, first of all, thank you very much for the question.

What are the advantages for my country? Well, of course we see many advantages. We see that there is still a space of business that we haven't fulfilled in our own region. We've always been, as you said, with a wide net of FTAs. While we have not been neglecting our region, we have not been taking all the advantages that we could.

At the same time, I can tell you that my first embassy was in Malaysia. There I realized how we were so small, attending to the demands and the requirements of our Asian partners. I think in the case of our four countries, it's much better to join efforts to face all these things.

There's also a matter of resources, financial resources. For instance, in this case we joined trade offices. We are saving money, but at the same time we are presenting ourselves, as you know, as a block of people. Even the studies that we have done indicate to us that if Canada joined the Pacific Alliance one day, we would be the fifth economic block in the world, which is something very interesting.

So I see for my country many possibilities in all these areas, but especially to fulfill a space that hasn't been fulfilled in terms of investments, in terms of trade. Our business people are starting to get together and to know each other, even our high officers. I think this is something that we have a big possibility to do now, because we are having very good behaviour economically, and we have political stability and democracy in Latin America.

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS]

Your excellency, the second part of my question was the challenge of putting that together within this rather short timeframe.

[H.E. Roberto Cristian Ibarra Garcia]

Yes. I know that it looks very challenging. Even I am asking if we are going to do it, but there is a dose of political will that we have put on that. Last week there was a meeting of ministers of trade and foreign affairs in Columbia, which as you know is going to host the next summit in Cali, in May. We are putting very, very strong pressure on our technical groups, and we hope—I cannot tell you if it's going to be the 31st of May, but maybe the first week of April or something...but really, the terms are very short.

With the 10%—the rest—we are going to deal with that. As I told you, we are thinking in two terms—one term of three years for the 3%, and one term of seven years for the 7%. Of course, if we consider that there are some sensitive products that should be considered apart...we will take our time. But we will move on that direction.

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS]

Good for you. That's positive to hear.

Our seeking to become part of this Pacific Alliance very much goes with our Americas strategy of dealing with countries in our own hemisphere and our own time zones—actually it's southern hemisphere here—is a huge boost to doing business.

There are challenges before expanding this into an even bigger group. First of all, we need to join and make that official, but how big could this group get?

[H.E. Roberto Cristian Ibarra Garcia]

That's a very good question.

We would like to think of a group that is mostly engaged in a real commitment to free trade and free circulation of goods, capital, and persons. We are going to open this group, considering the compromises that will result from the engagement of the countries involved. We aren't thinking about a very extended group in this moment. We prefer the commitment rather than the number of people. We want this group to work efficiently. We want to have a mechanism of integration in the Americas that works and that produces concrete results.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Thank you.

Mr. Easter.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Mr. Ambassador, and the people with you.

I did have the opportunity to be in Chile with our previous speaker for the inauguration of your president and ended up having to sit in the front row and not understanding a word of Spanish for two hours. But it was very interesting to see the country. I might say as well that from the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island, we have people constantly going to Chile, working in your aquaculture industry, which is a very productive industry.

Starting basically with the orders of the day, Mr. Ambassador, we are to do a study of the benefits for Canada in joining the Pacific Alliance as a full member. To me, this seemed to come out of nowhere.

From your perspective, how far along is this initiative in terms of Canada becoming a full member? Who started it? Where did it develop from, in terms of our participation? Do you have any answers on those points?

[H.E. Roberto Cristian Ibarra Garcia]

I think we felt there was the interest from Canada in this initiative. This initiative, as you mentioned, started in 2011. It was an initiative by the President of Peru and it evolved very fast. Of course, the dynamic has been that many countries are interested in their development.

I don't know how long it's going to take if Canada decides to get full membership. You already have an advantage because you have free trade agreements with the four members of the Pacific Alliance. Of course, there are many other things that probably will appear in the negotiation, and we will have to deal with those if you want. All the decisions in the Pacific Alliance are made by the unanimity of all members.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Yes, and that moves right into my next point. In your remarks, I think you mentioned a number of areas where the four countries of the Pacific Alliance at the moment have working groups coordinated by a different country, whether it's intellectual property or investment or whatever. Do you see Canada being involved in that process?

I still haven't determined if we are at the table yet in terms of negotiating Canada's position in the Pacific Alliance, or is it just a concept that the parliamentary secretary brought forward? What's going on? Is there a table where people are talking about this in a direct fashion?

[H.E. Roberto Cristian Ibarra Garcia]

I think it's a table where people are not only talking about it, but negotiating. As you see, we have goals and we have results and we hope to show them to Canadians in the next weeks.

I can speak for my country. Canada would be most welcome in our group; I think Canada would be an addition to this group. I think you have very good practices in Canada that can also influence all the practices of the alliance, and we can go to public policies that can benefit all the other countries. This is a Chilean perspective. I cannot speak for Mexico or for the other partners in the alliance, but we will really encourage Canada to join the alliance, Mr. Easter.

I think you need to see the South Pacific as well. I think you have been very concentrated, as we have as well, on the other shore of the Pacific.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

We're not in any way opposed to being there, but what I'm trying to figure out is are we.... I understand that within the four countries, you are certainly discussing these areas, including intellectual property, and are trying to make more comprehensive agreements than are already in place. But is Canada at the table in any given place?

Or maybe Gerald can answer, I don't know.

[H.E. Roberto Cristian Ibarra Garcia]

Yes, I think this is a question. I can repeat that we would very much like to have Canada at the table. I think it's going to be important, but it's up to you to decide.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Just a—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

I believe we have observer status technically, right?

[H.E. Roberto Cristian Ibarra Garcia]

Yes, you have observer status. Do you know that as observers you are going to be invited to the ministerial meetings and to the summits?

You have this intermediate as a candidate observer. If you want to go along with this, you will have more participation. You can follow the negotiations and you can decide if you want to.... So you have space, you have time.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

On slide 16, which talks about the global trade between ourselves and the Pacific Alliance at the moment, with imports and exports, certainly, Canada is very much in a deficit position.

You mentioned earlier that we have FTAs with all four countries, but they're not very comprehensive. You also mentioned that the United States seems to be doing better—although those weren't the exact words—that we could take much more profit with an FTA and that the United States seems to be doing that. How are they doing it, and we're not?

[H.E. Roberto Cristian Ibarra Garcia]

That's a very difficult question for an ambassador.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[H.E. Roberto Cristian Ibarra Garcia]

There is probably a business culture in South America to deal more with the Americans. The Americans have always been much more present in South America.

That's the reason we very much appreciate the policy regarding Latin America. We see that something is moving in Canada regarding Latin America. We see you are looking at the region with different eyes and the presence of your people there. I think the investments have also done the job, because we're getting to know each other much better.

I cannot give recipes here, but I think Canada can do much better in our region. I'm going to stop at that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Ambassador, you've given us an extra 15 minutes. Is that accurate?

[H.E. Roberto Cristian Ibarra Garcia]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

We will hold the committee to that. Is the committee okay with carrying on for 15 more minutes?

I see a consensus.

Mr. Holder, the floor is yours, seven minutes.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Thank you, Chair. I need only 14.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!