State Secretary Åslaug Haga

Statement at the first meeting of the Consultative Group under the Bilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement

21.04.98

First of all I would like to say how pleased I am to be here today. I have been looking forward to this event acknowledging the potential of our bilateral relations, the affinity between Norwegians and Canadians - and our cultural proximity. All these elements are catalysts that can contribute to paving the way for an intensified bilateral co-operation.

The bilateral arrangement signed last December can in many ways be considered a milestone:

First of all, it reflects the political will on the part of both Norway and Canada to intensify our relations as regards trade and economic co-operation to our mutual benefit. Even though Canada already is a considerable trading partner for Norway, I envisage further growth and diversification in our bilateral trade.

Secondly, being a framework arrangement, our bilateral arrangement constitutes a new dimension in our relations. We are now moving towards a more integrated approach. What we want is the Norwegian and Canadian business communities to take an active part in formulating the agenda of our bilateral co-operation.

Thirdly, the scope of our bilateral co-operation goes beyond the bilateral sphere. Positioned on either side of the North Atlantic, Norway and Canada can in my view make a contribution to strengthening the transatlantic ties, supporting the overall objective of promoting economic integration between our continents.

The latter brings me to one of the main issues of our present meeting here today: the prospect of concluding a free trade agreement between EFTA and Canada.

This would add a regional aspect to our relations, and should be seen as a new step forward in EFTA's efforts to develop its third-country relations. So far, EFTA has concluded free trade agreements with Central and Eastern European and Mediterranean countries. The overall objective of this process so far has been to develop new relations with these regions in the wake of the cold war in parallel with EU´s Association Agreements.

EFTA's ambitions, however, go beyond Europe, and this is where Canada comes in as a central partner. Canada is the first country beyond Europe and the Mediterranean rim with which EFTA is seriously considering to conclude a free trade agreement. Canada is, moreover, the largest and most developed economy that EFTA has approached in this regard. Personally I believe that an EFTA-Canada free trade agreement would give EFTA a new geographical dimension that would not pass unnoticed internationally. The prospect of a truly transatlantic free-trade area is indeed an interesting one.

Our point of departure for exploring a free trade agreement with Canada would be based on EFTA´s existing free trade agreements. However, our ambition with regard to Canada would in many respects be a broader and deeper co-operation, for instance with regard to services and investments, public procurement, governmental aid, competition rules and intellectual property rights. High standards in other fields relating to i.a. environment and labour standards should also be considered.

Another focal point of our bilateral arrangement is co-operation within international bodies such as the WTO and OECD on multilateral trade policy and economic issues. Norway and Canada share many of the same perspectives and concerns in this regard.

Norway has a keen interest on intensifying contacts with Canada on multilateral trade questions. This process should run as flexible and cost efficient as possible. Contacts could thus take place in connection with future consultative group meetings of our bilateral arrangement, both on a political and high officials level. Other occasions could be bilateral meetings at the margin of multilateral meetings in Geneva and Paris. More regular and systematic contacts could, moreover, take place between our delegations in Geneva.

I suggest that we ask our high officials responsible for WTO and OECD to sound out how to arrange our bilateral contacts on trade policy issues.

After having dealt with genuinely policy issues so far in this introduction, I would now like to draw your attention to the present state and perspectives of our trade and economic co-operation.

Canada was Norway's eighth largest export market in 1996, and Norway is Canada's fifth largest trading partner in Europe. Since 1993, Norwegian exports to Canada have more than tripled. However, our trade relations are characterised by the exchange of raw materials, while trade in more advanced industrial products and services is limited. Nevertheless, I am confident that the many similarities in terms of resources and industrial structure provides yet unexplored opportunities for expanding our economic relations in areas where we have limited co-operation.

What I in particular have in mind is the technologically advanced end of the industrial process. Here we find areas where Norway and Canada have a great deal in common, and we have already seen encouraging developments in certain areas such as the offshore sector. Norwegian companies are active in several oil fields, and I believe that it should be possible to expand this involvement even further. Here I might mention the recently established Oil and Gas Forum, which consists of Norwegian offshore companies that are doing business in Canada, in particular in Newfoundland.

Another encouraging sign is the increased interest among Norwegian companies in using Canada as a bridgehead into the larger North American market.

A last point of interest, to which I would like to draw your attention, is the transatlantic video-conferences arranged by The Norwegian Trade Council for companies interested in doing business in Canada. By bridging the geographical distances, the new technology has made it easier and less expensive for small and medium sized enterprises to get information about business opportunities in new markets. I believe that this offers promising perspectives for our bilateral co-operation.

Thank you.