Canadian Minister of International Trade Ed Fast has wrapped up talks
with his Southeast Asian counterparts this week, reflecting
dramatically growing weight of developing economies in the global
economy and the possibilities this shift raises for Canada.
According to Associate Director of the Conference Board of Canada’s
Global Commerce Centre Danielle Goldfarb, Canada’s traditional trade
partners, including the US and Western Europe, will continue to
represent the most significant long-term potential for Canadian
businesses.
But rapid growth in Brazil, India, China, and
beyond to smaller, fast-growing, emerging markets in Latin America,
Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, including Southeast
Asia, has the potential to drive Canada’s trade and investment growth
going forward, she said.
Southeast Asia, in particular, is
large and an extremely rapidly growing region, she said, adding that the
region as a whole has the ninth-largest economy in the world, even
larger than both India and Russia , although its population is twice
that of the US.
According to Danielle Goldfarb, most
notable are the growth rates of these countries in recent years. To put
things into perspective, the accompanying chart matches up countries in
Southeast Asia with more familiar US states of similar economic size.
Canadian businesses have the obvious advantages of proximity, shared
language, and a massive market in trading with the US . But it is
obvious that US growth rates are meagre compared with those of
Southeast Asia.
She said despite it being such a large,
fast-growth region, Canadians have failed to give Southeast Asia much
attention. Trade with this region, which represents only 1 percent of
Canada ’s exports, though a more significant 2 percent of the country’s
imports.
According to official statistics, Canadian companies invested less than 7 billion USD in the region in 2011, she added.
To some degree, it is not surprising that most Canadian businesses
have not been actively involved in these markets, she said, reasoning
that while the region offers many rewards, it is geographically distant,
and doing business there can be very challenging.
But while some of these countries have extremely challenging business environments, others are more welcoming, she said.-VNA