International Trade committee  If we're looking for greater transportation links, I think the solution is a very simple one: we just give them the landing rights. These are negotiated government to government. Of course, the only one that I'm personally familiar with is in the UAE. That currently offers six flights a week, on either side.

International Trade committee  I'll try to sketch out our presence on the ground. As my colleague said, we have embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia is responsible for Yemen, Oman, and Bahrain. Kuwait is responsible for Qatar, and the UAE is responsible for the UAE. We have a consulate in Dubai, as well as an embassy in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the question of small business, one of the things that certainly impressed me was the number of Canadian franchises that moved into the Middle East. For example, Second Cup opened its first franchise outside of Canada in Dubai. A Canadian company called FIDEL had a clothing line, produced in Montreal, that was doing very well.

International Trade committee  I'll use the example of Australia because I think there are some parallels, although there are others I could draw on, but they're the same distance away, the same kind of economy, and so on. I'm not sure what their trade figures were, but they were significantly more than ours.

International Trade committee  I think I should say immediately that I didn't achieve it. Canadian business is leading very much on this. What's taking place in Dubai and in the United Arab Emirates is something relatively unique. They have set out to diversify their economy in virtually every sector. One of the ways they are doing that is to make it a transportation hub, an entrepôt for this $1.5 billion market, which includes the subcontinent, even Russia.

International Trade committee  I think the question of statistics and the measurement of our trade is an extremely challenging one. It's not only in the service sector, which by very rough back-of-the-envelope calculations is probably equal to our merchandise trade, but an enormous amount of our exports pass through the United States.

International Trade committee  I'll let my colleagues respond in introducing their comments. To my knowledge, we have not had a lot of trade disputes over that sort of thing, and that's a very valid point. The disadvantage, though, is that there is an importance in these instruments in their own right. It's very time-consuming to have meetings between government officials and so on, but the advantage is that their tax lawyers get to know our tax lawyers, their investment protection authorities get to know ours, and this economic relationship is built up.

International Trade committee  It's a difficult question and an extremely relevant one. I'm sure there are many factors, but I would think the basic one is just the lack of resources. First of all, I think one needs to do the analysis we're doing--and that has been done before--as to where our priorities are.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is indeed a very great privilege for me to meet with you and your colleagues this morning. In the next few minutes I'd like to briefly build on Dwain's introduction by outlining some of the conclusions that emerged from the Canada-Arab Business Council-Department of Foreign Affairs Conference on Canada and the Arab World, Trade and Investment Opportunities 2007, which was held just a few weeks ago.