Thank you very much, Chairman, honourable committee members, fellow panel members, ladies and gentlemen.
I will keep my comments and perspective more to the economic advantages and opportunities that Europe can provide to Canadian companies and to the Canadian economy as a whole, as it seems that others who have appeared before the committee have more than adequately commented on and discussed the strategic importance of the EU and its relations with Canada and the world.
First of all, I'll start with a quick background. I think I come with a unique perspective. As a Canadian-born entrepreneur and first-generation Canadian, I have travelled extensively throughout my life internationally in my business, and I've built a global company, that was founded in my house in Saskatchewan. Over the last decade, we've managed to build a global company headquartered and run from Saskatchewan.
I want to talk to you a bit about what I call the trade imperative, and the continued growth of emerging markets, and give you my perspective on how the EU can be an important part of the international success of Canadian international business.
To give you a quick background, we're in the business of lentils, chickpeas, peas, and beans. [Technical Difficulty—Editor] company in 2003, with revenues now of over $1 billion, with exports to 108 countries around the world, and manufacturing and processing facilities on five continents.
As a man with a true passion for Saskatchewan, I took a look at the emerging agri-economy here and saw the new crop potentials in lentils, chickpeas, and beans. I wanted to ensure that we had a value-added story whereby we were adding value, creating wealth and opportunities in local communities, and taking advantage of directly exporting to the international marketplace.
My company is headquartered in Regina. We have 31 processing facilities on five continents. Europe is a key part of our overall business in that we operate sales and trading offices in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland, with approximately 45 full-time staff and sales of over $200 million into Europe.
If you look at our case specifically through our participation in global value chains, we are a Canadian company which has invested in production, sales and distribution assets in companies across the globe. We've created significant global agrifood and food ingredient opportunities, employing over 1,000 people in our operations. I think more businesses in my sector and others have the potential to be successful in the same way.
To be clear, I've dedicated my business career in Saskatchewan to fulfilling business success through the trade imperative. With only one million people and the blessing of a tremendously productive resource-based economy in Saskatchewan, we have to look at markets beyond our borders to succeed. This includes Canadian borders. We have only one million and 34 million people respectively in Saskatchewan and Canada.
For me, Europe is a key market of concentration, and will be a focal point for our growth strategy in the coming five years as we move our company further up the value chain to a food company from a commodity company. As I indicated, the EU is a great place to do business.
Let's walk through a few quick statistics that illustrate the point. Canada and the EU have a long history of economic cooperation. The 28 member states have a population of nearly 500 million and a GDP of over 13 trillion euros, according to Eurostat. The EU is the largest single market for the investor and trader, and as [Technical Difficulty—Editor] it represents Canada's largest trading partner in goods and services, with the EU totalling over $52.2 billion, an increase from 2007, the EU is now around $62.4 billion, up about 3.9%. We have a growing relationship.
As former chair of the small and medium-sized enterprise advisory board for the Canadian international trade minister, and through such roles as serving on the global commerce strategy renewal panel examining the refresh of Canada's global commerce strategy, I've spoken as a dedicated supporter of the potential benefits for Canada from increased bilateral trade agreements with such strategic and economically important emerging market countries as Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Colombia, to name a few.
In terms of benefits of free trade agreements to small and medium-sized enterprises, it has been shown that smaller businesses tend to benefit more from such agreements than do larger ones.
While I was the chair of the SME advisory board, we tabled many recommendations to the minister and the international trade officials at DFAIT focused on free trade agreement commercialization programs to ensure that the agreements do indeed deliver for Canadian jobs, sustainable economic growth and prosperity as we continue to develop Canada's position in the global marketplace.
As an example, the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement increased total bilateral trade between the two economies from $757 million in 1996, the year before implementation, to over $2.5 billion in 2008. In 1996 there were approximately 500 [Technical Difficulty—Editor] exporters to Chile, and the number had more than doubled by 2008. SMEs accounted for 69% of total exports in 2008 under that agreement, up from 59% in 1996.
The EU opportunity is a single market and customs union many times larger than Chile or even the whole of South America. In [Technical Difficulty—Editor] approximately 8,050 SME exporters were exporting into the EU, exporting nearly $16.7 billion, or 53% of Canadian exports by value.
The United States remains the dominant economic relationship for Canada. The CETA allows us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to truly have the opportunity to achieve growth by diversifying our export base. CETA, balanced with further inroads in key emerging markets such as China, India, Turkey, and others, will provide a robust platform for the transformation of international business for Canadian companies. I believe, as an entrepreneur doing business in both regions, both in Canada and in Europe, these types of development agreements are necessary and positive for both of us to continue the economic strength and opportunity that both [Technical Difficulty—Editor] really enjoying.
I will end my comments and will be available for questions when you're ready, Mr. Chair.