The Canadian Minister of International Trade, Edward Fast, brought a trade delegation of business people to Saudi Arabia to discuss business opportunities in both countries. In this wide ranging interview with Arab News reporter Abdul Hannan Tago, Fast discusses commerce and politics, and its impact on Saudi Arabia and the region.
What is the purpose of your visit to Saudi Arabia? Are you traveling to other countries in the region during this trip?
I am very pleased to be in Saudi Arabia at the head of a Canadian delegation of business people. There are tremendous opportunities in Saudi Arabia, especially in infrastructure, health and education. We know the Saudi government has very ambitious plans to build its infrastructure capacity and also its health capacity.
Canada happens to be a leader of both those sectors, which is why I brought this delegation here to see what strategic partnerships we can develop in strengthening the Saudi-Canadian relationship. At the moment there are some 16,000 students in Canada, of who 900 study medicine. There are 4,000 Canada trained doctors working in Saudi Arabia.
Education has forged a strong link between the two countries. We see education as a way for Canada to make a contribution to building the Saudi economy.
What new initiatives do you have in place to boost commercial links between Saudi Arabia and Canada?
Education is the critical way of linking the countries in sharing expertise, because Canada is a world leader in education. I believe that we can use education to boost Saudi Arabia’s economy and build its capacity in infrastructure and health care services because we have a high level of expertise in these areas.
The agro-food industry is another area with room for cooperation. We know Saudi Arabia depends heavily on food import, as Canada is North America’s breadbasket. We ship a lot of green products, wheat and many other food products to Saudi Arabia.
Canada is also one of the world’s leading countries in the energy sector. We can share our expertise with Saudi Arabia and promote its energy sector to make it more sustainable for the environment.
Which Saudi officials will you meet during your stay in the Kingdom? What specific topics do you intend to discuss with them?
On Saturday we met Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Commerce and Industries, Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, and I discussed a number of very important issues. We talked about how Canada and Saudi Arabia could cooperate better by reducing trade barriers between our countries.
We have talked on broad investment opportunities here in Saudi Arabia and I welcome investments in Canada. I will, of course, meet with the deputy minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources, the minister of Health as well as the minister of Higher Education.
We know that Saudi Arabia is a wealthy country that is looking to diversify its investment portfolio. I identified a number of opportunities that Saudi Arabia might consider in terms of investment.
We talked about the importance of education. Canada could contribute to building educational excellence in Saudi Arabia.
What is the Canadian position on regional political issues like Syria, Iran and the Middle East peace process? Do you find any common elements in Saudi and Canadian policies, when it comes to dealing with key regional issues of the Arab world?
We certainly consider Saudi Arabia to be a moderate voice in the Middle East. Canada’s position is very clear. First of all for Syria, we called repeatedly for President Assad to step down and to allow Syrians to move toward a democracy. We expect the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Syria. We have also taken a position against the bloodshed by the Assad regime.
On Iran, we believe that this country is the greatest threat to global peace and security. It’s one of the reasons why we have closed down our embassy in Iran very recently. Iran has refused to comply with any of UN sanctions relating to its nuclear program. It continues to deny the existence of Israel and its anti-semantic rhetoric of genocide is a matter be great concern to the global community.
We know that Iran is among the world’s worst violators of human rights and it materially supports terrorism organizations.
Finally, we believe that Iran continues to show no respect for the world’s wish that it becomes a peaceful, democratic state.
On the Israeli-Palestinian issue, we as government believe in a two-state solution to this conflict. We believe in a negotiated agreement between the parties, that guarantees Israel’s right to live in peace and security with its neighbors, and which also leads to the establishment of viable and independent Palestinian state.
Beyond that, Canada supports the US and encourages the parties to resume direct negotiations without precondition. Canada does not support the recognition of a Palestinian state prior to a negotiated agreement. We believe a unilateral act by either side is distinctly unhelpful.
Will you be signing any memorandum of understanding (MoU) during your visit to Saudi Arabia?
I didn’t travel to Saudi Arabia to sign an MoU. I came here to discover firsthand what the opportunities are right here on the ground. That’s also why I brought a trade delegation along: to allow Canadian companies who have an interest in investing and trading with Saudi Arabia to personally study the situation.
So far I’ve felt very encouraged. We already have some agreements in place. We have a bilateral cooperation agreement, which covers a wide range of areas including economic and trade related issues. Of course, we always look to build on that in the future.
A Canadian company, Bombardier, has bagged a $ 367 million (SR 1,376 million) contract from Spanish Talgo to provide components for high-speed trains in Saudi Arabia? What is your comment on this new contract? Will you support more Canadian companies to come forward aggressively to the Kingdom to clinch similar deals directly?
Bombardier is one of Canada’s flagship companies. I was delighted to see that Bombardier could secure a contract for a monorail system for the King Abdullah Financial District. There was also an agreement on manpower supply for the new Jeddah International Airport. These are the kind of investments that we encourage Canadian companies to look for around the world. Saudi Arabia happens to have a very ambitious infrastructure program going on. Canada has many strong infrastructure-focused companies. I will tell them to look at Saudi Arabia as a land of opportunity where Canadian investors are welcomed.
Is there any plan to simplify the visa issuance procedure by Canada for Saudi nationals? What measures is the Canadian government taking to reduce the processing time of the visa applications?
The visa processing time for visas to Canada now has been reduced to around ten days or even less. This is a significant improvement over the last few years. I am very pleased to see how the Saudi government has cooperated with us. Very recently we learned that they are also going to match our visa process and that’s good news for travelers, business people and students who are looking to travel to Canada.
What has been the volume of two-way trade in 2010, 2011 and during the first half of 2012? What are your major exports and import?
In 2011, our bilateral trade was somewhere around $3.6 billion (SR 1.35 billion). But my Saudi host reminded me that the number does not include all the trade between the two countries. For example, any trade that transits through an intermediary country would not be reflected in those statistics and we know that so many goods have been informally traded between Canada and Saudi Arabia through intermediary companies.
In terms of Canadian merchandise exports, some of those will be cereal, food stuffs, machinery, ores and paper products. Canada also is a significant exporter of wheat to Saudi Arabia. In terms of imports, Canada’s primary import from Saudi Arabia is not surprisingly, oil.
Do you have plans to promote Canada further as an ideal education destination for Saudi students? What is the total number of Saudi students currently on the rolls of the universities and institutions in your country?
A recent study into the international education in Canada recommended to double the number of foreign students to Canada over the next ten years. This is an ambitious goal.
We believe that education represents one of the best ways through which we can develop understanding and a bridging relationship between Canada and its key trading partners, including Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom is the fourth largest source of foreign students in Canada behind the US, China and India, despite the fact that Saudi Arabia has a small population.
One of the reasons why foreign students feel at home in Canada is because it is the world’s most multi-cultural country. Every ethnic group in the world is represented in Canada. We celebrate our cultural differences. That’s why Canada was recently named as the most tolerant country in the world.
There was a plan to open a chapter of Canadian Education Center Network in Riyadh. Is that plan still in the pipeline or has it been canceled?
My delegation has quite number of educational institutional colleges with English as a second language. These schools, some of which are top-notch institutions, are focusing on providing education opportunities in Saudi Arabia. Whether that means establishing campuses here or providing online schooling for Saudi students remains to be discussed.
Will there be any meeting between commercial bodies like the Saudi-Canada Joint Economic Commission, the Canada-Arab Business Council or Export Development Canada in the near future?
I am very pleased to announce that the next session of the Saudi-Canadian meeting will be held in Canada in 2013. I expect the first of the 2013 session to focus on joint economic cooperation.
