Let me begin by welcoming all of our distinguished guests to Ottawa. You have picked a beautiful time of year to visit, and I hope you have the chance to get to know our capital city better during your time with us.

We are particularly honoured that Ministers Marquez, Crespo, Luna, Ramirez and Deputy Minister Icaza are with us today. I am also pleased that Mr. Algrett (Secretary-General of the Andean Community of Nations) and Mr. Garcia (President of the Andean Development Corporation) are attending.

Let me thank the embassies from the member countries of the Andean Community for organizing this important seminar.

This is a wonderful opportunity to renew old friendships and to recommit ourselves to expanding trade and investment between the Andean Community and Canada, so we thank you for your initiative.

Over the past year, we have been honoured to receive a number of distinguished guests from the Andean Community: President Fujimori and President Chavez have both been recent guests, and we are looking forward to welcoming President Pastrana at the end of May.

Through these high-level visits, it is clear that relations between Canada and the Andean Community are strong, and are growing stronger every day.

Both the Andean Community and Canada have recognized that the world is changing dramatically. Around the globe, barriers are falling down and opportunities are opening up for our people to create better lives for themselves and for their children. And nowhere do we see stronger evidence of the exciting opportunities before us than right here in our own hemisphere.

Today, Canada sees itself as a country of the Americas. The North American Free Trade Agreement, our Free Trade Agreement with Chile, our trade and investment co-operation arrangements with Mercosur and the Central American Common Market, as well as the one we are currently negotiating with the Andean Community - all of these point to our commitment to expanding our trade and investment links throughout the hemisphere.

We are also currently chairing the negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), an initiative that we believe holds tremendous promise for the future prosperity of the peoples of this hemisphere.

Canada believes that the Andean Community has a significant role to play in making the FTAA a reality. You have demonstrated strong leadership in these negotiations through your chairmanship of three of the negotiating groups, and we look forward to Ecuador's chairing of the overall FTAA process following Argentina's tenure.

Of course, is it not just our government that is so optimistic about the possibilities in this region. Canadian business leaders have also seen the potential, and are positioning themselves to participate in the enormous growth ahead.

Last year, more than 500 Canadian businesses participated in our Team Canada trade mission to Latin America, the largest ever such mission.

We have also seen a growing number of bilateral initiatives by the private sector. The Canada-Colombia and Canada-Peru Business Councils, for example, have provided networking opportunities aimed at furthering co-operation among our business communities.

And business associations, such as the Canadian Association of Mining Equipment and Services for Export, have taken the lead in organizing Canadian participation in major trade shows throughout the Andean region.

This November, just prior to the FTAA ministerial meetings, we are looking forward to hosting the Americas Business Forum in Toronto. More than 1000 business leaders, from the 34 countries of our hemisphere, are expected to attend this important event. Not only will it be a tremendous networking opportunity for the private sector, but it will also provide ministers with an important agenda of opportunities and challenges that need to be dealt with.

So Canadian commitment - both at the government level and among the private sector - is clear: we want to do more business with the nations of Latin America.

Canada sees the Andean Community as an area of particular promise. Trade between us is already significant, with two-way trade standing at about $3 billion in 1998. This is comparable to the $3.4 billion in trade that Canada does with Mercosur.

And our trade with the Andean Community has been increasing, by about 3.5 percent every year, since 1995.

Similarly, our investment in your Community is showing strong growth. Canadian investment in Peru alone is projected to reach $6 billion over the next five years.

As you know, much of that investment is in the natural resources sector. The similarity of our geographies, particularly that of Western Canada, enables direct application of Canadian experience and expertise in the Andean environment. Teck, Noranda and Rio Algom, for example, will invest over $3 billion to develop ANTAMINA, Latin America's largest zinc/copper mine, in Peru.

In Venezuela, Placer Dome is contributing more than half a billion dollars to the Las Cristinas gold mine.

And in Ecuador, Pacalta, of Alberta, has been active in the oil sector, pumping more than 200 000 barrels of crude last year.

The mining sector has also demonstrated the relationship between trade and investment, with Canadian investments in mining operations leading to the export of Canadian mining equipment and services.

Canada is also sharing its expertise in high technology.

In Colombia, for example, Northern Telecom is a leading supplier of cellular technology and switches, while Bell Canada, through its subsidiary, Comcel, is a major provider of wireless communications services.

And in Bolivia, Walsh Automation, of Montreal, has upgraded the security system of the Santa Cruz Airport.

So we have established a strong foundation for commercial activity between us. Now, the time has come to build on that foundation, to take our relationship to the next level and realize the great untapped potential between us.

One of the important steps we can take in that regard is to conclude further foreign investment protection and double taxation agreements with individual members of the Andean Community. These would go a long way to promoting a positive trade and investment climate, and would send an important signal to our respective business communities.

Recently, one of our shared objectives has been a trade and investment co-operation arrangement between Canada and the Andean Community.

I am pleased to report that these negotiations are at a very advanced stage, and that we will be signing this arrangement in the very near future. We are confident that this arrangement will help to further strengthen the ties between us and lead to even greater co-operation in the future.

I am also pleased to announce that this year the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, in partnership with the Bolivar Program, will sponsor eight youth internships in Latin America, including in the Andean Community. These internships will provide young Canadians with the opportunity to learn more about doing business in Latin America, while gaining an understanding of technology transfer issues.

The internships will also help to reinforce the strong people-to-people relations between us.

This focus on the people side of our relationship is not accidental: we believe that the best way to build solid, long-term commercial relations is through direct, first-hand experience.

Fax to fax will never replace face to face in developing our relationship, and we intend to continue supporting initiatives that bring our people together. Indeed, people are at the heart of our common efforts to enhance trade and investment between us. Like politics, all trade is local.

Beyond improving the bottom line of our companies, trade is about enhancing the opportunities and quality of life for our people. Freer trade offers our citizens markets for their products, rewards for their labour and hope for their future.

Today, more than ever, debates over trade must address issues of fairness and the equitable sharing of prosperity. Because, if history teaches us anything, it is that we can only ensure long-term stability if the benefits are shared, the people are engaged and the system is just.

And so our discussions about trade and investment must be inclusive. They must reach out to a wide spectrum of opinion within our societies - business, labour, academia and the larger community.

By listening to all of these different voices, we will not only create a greater acceptance of freer trade, but will also ensure that its benefits are indeed widely shared.

It was more than 150 years ago that Simon Bolivar spoke of his desire to see the Americas fashioned into the greatest region in the world. "Greatest," he said, "not so much by virtue of her area and her wealth, as by her freedom and her glory."

Today, we have the opportunity to bring Bolivar's dream closer to reality. We can unite the Americas as never before, and create a region that is great in both wealth and freedom.

In that effort, we see Canada and the Andean Community standing side by side and arm in arm.

Let us resolve not to turn from our course until the full potential of this hemisphere is realized and all of its people share in its bounty.