Going Global: Brunei/Canada Relations in 2003

Remarks spoken to by the Hon. David Kilgour, P.C., M.P.

Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) and MP (Edmonton Southeast)

Brunei Young Entrepreneurs Fellowship

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

14 August 2003

Check Against Delivery

Salam Sejahtera!

On behalf of Bryon Wilfert and the rest of our delegation, I'd like to thank you for hosting us this afternoon and to reiterate just how pleased we are to be here.  It's my first visit ever to Brunei -- hopefully not my last.  What has struck me most about your country, aside from the great weather and the water village, is that although it is half-a world away, it's much closer to Canada than most people probably realise.  For instance, I'm not sure whether anyone here realises that flying to London takes just as long as flying to Vancouver.  Since the resumption of Brunei's independence from the United Kingdom in 1984, both our governments, business peoples, students, academics, and others have worked to bring our countries and peoples together in areas such as trade and investment, education, and defence.

What many of you may not realise is that although we're geographically removed, Canada is very much an "Asian" nation.  In recent years, our society has undergone something of an "Asianification" process, which is shorthand way of describing several emerging dynamics. Firstly, Canada's population is increasingly tied to Asia through immigration and education. Secondly, our economy, while highly integrated in North America, now increasingly looks west to Asia.  In fact, every year since 1990, Canada's trans-Pacific trade has surpassed trade across the Atlantic.        

Canada/Brunei Relations

Part and parcel of Canada's Asianification has been a deepening and more comprehensive relationship with Brunei.

With a per capita GDP of US$20,000, your economy cannot be ignored. In recent years, policy makers and program managers have turned increasing attention to Brunei's young people.  I understand that a remarkable 60% of your population is below 35 years old.  This demographic serves as an engine for growth in your economy and speaks to Brunei's enormous potential.  Your government recognises this, having allocated B$38 million to promote and develop small and medium enterprises in Brunei.

My message to you this afternoon, a group of dynamic and resourceful entrepreneurs, is to  think globally, and more specifically, to think of Canada when pursuing business opportunities overseas.

Clearly, there has been much advancement in the ties between our countries.  In the environmental sector, we have two bilateral exchanges to help address Brunei environmental challenges. And I am told, a third one is on the way. One of these joint ventures is so successful that the companies involved have decided to form another joint venture to bid for international projects.  These are the kinds of success stories we, as Canadians and Bruneians, can be proud of.

In the IT sector, we have a Canadian company installing its retail software in all Brunei Shell Marketing's gasoline stations and another company providing remote wireless communications to the remote areas of Brunei. In the financial services sector, the Royal Bank of Canada is newly present.  In defence, there are several Bruneian air force officers who have undergone training with the Royal Canadian Forces. Some of our finest educational institutions like the University of Windsor, University of Calgary, and Dalhousie University (where my son is a student), have twinning programs with the University of Darussalam in the fields of biotechnology and medicine.

Without a doubt, Canadians are present in Brunei and this presence is growing.  Yet, we know how many others see Canada.  Our winters, admittedly very cold in most parts of the country, are most of the time our best (or worst) known feature.   Others think of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and snow-capped mountains.  We're generally seen as a big, peaceful country with friendly people and an abundance of natural resources. These are only a few of many facets of the Canadian reality. There is so much more to the Canadian people and our economy.

There are two areas in particular that I'd like to draw your attention to: first, information and communications technologies.  I know Brunei is working very hard to become South-East Asia's second ICT hub, following Singapore's successful model.  Second, biotechnology and health; fields well-known to Bruneians, who as our High Commissioner pointed out, have the highest per capita medical students and professionals in the region.

Telecommunications and ICTs in Canada

Canadian expertise in ICT is often overlooked. Looking back though our history, one shouldn't be surprised that we've been ranked number one in the world four years running in the development and management of E-government. 

For instance, did you know that it was in his small Ontario lab in 1876 that Alexander Graham Bell made the first successful telephone call?  Or that in 1901, Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless message on what are now Canadian shores?   Fast forward to 1972, when Canadian scientists launched the first telecommunication satellite - the Anik A.

And what about the Internet?  I imagine most of you want things to move fast.  The high-speed network is your connection to the rest of the world.  So just how fast is Canada's "high speed" network?  Well, I'm told that our CA*net 3 can download a two-and-a-half hour movie in one-fifth of a second. With a bandwidth greater than any commercial Internet link, CA*net 3 is the fastest in the world.

Despite the global slowdown in the IT sector, our ICT sector still attracts investors from around the world.  Our telecommunication companies regularly form strategic alliances with international firms to increase distribution and develop new products. Our regulatory environment makes it easy for Canadian businesses and their international partners to move innovative new products and services into the global market. Canadian companies already benefit from one of the worlds' best communication infrastructure, but investment in Canada offers even more - access to the most advanced development networks anywhere. There's our all-optical CA*net 3, which I've already mentioned, and Canada's National Test Network which, at 6,000 kilometres, is the longest fibre optic network in the world.

In short, our high speed networks open worlds of opportunity, and it is our young people who will help us capitalize on these strengths. Multimedia, virtual reality, real time audio and video ?? electronic commerce, telemedicine, distance learning ?? The possibilities are seemingly endless, as are opportunities to use advancements such as these to do good around the world.

Given Brunei's dedication and determination to be a leader in ICT, I am confident that there is much room for partnership and cooperation with Canada.

Canadians pioneers in Bio-technology and Health

Another field where Canadians are at the cutting edge of global trends is in biotechnology and health.  Much like in ICT, Canadians have a long history of pioneering new research and developments.

In the area of health, Canadian researchers have made significant advancements in battling cancer, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, Alzheimers and HIV/AIDS.

Two Canadians, Banting and Best, discovered insulin in 1921, still the only treatment for diabetes. The University of Alberta has built on this strength by developing a tool for creating insulin naturally, called Islet-cell transplantation.

In the fight against cancer, Canadian researchers have made significant inroads in the global search for a treatment or cure. Julia Levy from UBC co-discovered photodynamic drugs; the University of Calgary's Patrick Lee developed a reoviruis - a potential treatment.

Our Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto has given us significant hope in the battle against cystic fibrosis with the discovery of the defective gene that causes the illness by Lep-Chee Tsui in 1989. Dr. Tsui is now the president of the University of Honk Kong, and we look forward to his continued leadership in health science research and his promotion of Canadian science in this region.

Research into Alzheimer's took a significant leap forward with the work of researchers at the University of Toronto and McGill. McGill's Judes Poirier identified a link between Alzheimer's and apolipoprotein E. Peter St. George-Hyslop, of the University of Toronto, successfully immunized mice against the disease.

And Dr. Bernard Belleau, who lead a group of researchers at McGill University in the 1980s, discovered 3TC (lamivudine), a medication that plays a key role in the treatment of AIDS. Dr. Belleau was also instrumental in founding a pharmaceutical company called BioChem Pharma Inc., one of the largest of its kind in Canada. The firm invests over $80 million in medical research every year.

On the commercial side too, Canada ranks extremely well when we compare our biotech sector to those of other countries. We are first in the world in terms of R&D per biotech employee, second to the United States in the number of biotech companies, and third in biotechnology revenues, after only the United States and the United Kingdom.

As you can see, Canadians accomplishments in biotechnology and health have implications for patients, families and researchers around the globe.

 A Changing World

And indeed, the world is changing; the young and educated, such as yourselves, are leading the charge. We are in the midst of a massive shift in the way we communicate, live, work and learn, and the way we do business and trade. We've all heard the buzzwords (I've already used some of them today) - "wireless" ?? "e-com" ?? "the power of the Internet" ?? "globalization" ?? "the global village." We hear them so often, that it's easy to dismiss them, but they really are revolutionizing how we do business and live.

In Brunei, I am glad to see you have plans to link up all your schools, to aggressively work towards an e-government, to build a cyber-park etc, and other similar projects to increase your ICT capacity.

For business, this translates into exponential opportunities - for foreign investment, global partnerships, joint ventures, trade.  But we cannot forget the human element - which, in the long term, is even more important. Technological advances, hold enormous promise for improving the quality of life everywhere.  The advances in ICT and biotechnology that I cited earlier offer us the potential to do this.  The challenge is to try to see things both from a global and human perspective.

Beyond the Bottom Line

We can't allow ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking only in terms of profits, return on investment or the bottom line. Regardless of where we live, we're all in this together, all six billion of us. We share similar values. We breathe the same air. Whether we're from Brunei, Saskatchewan, Islamabad or Rome, when it comes down to it, most of us want the same things - happiness, health, good education for our children, to be appreciated for who we are, to be treated with dignity and respect.

In Closing

So in closing then, a small plea that, inasmuch as you are all our future business leaders, you will hopefully not only be driven to succeed but also determined to make this a better world.

On behalf of Bryon Wilfert,  thank you for hosting us.  I welcome your questions and if I may, I have some for you myself: to those people from the region,  how do you see Canada? To the Canadians visiting or living here, how is Canada viewed in the eyes of the people you meet? What can we do to better brand our country as something more than a place of Mounties and snow? What can the Government of Canada do to let the rest of the world know of the tremendous accomplishments of Canadian innovators, like the ones we touched on today? How can we better promote the accomplishments of our youth, our image makers and breakers in the years to come?

And please, don't be shy. We're all friends here.

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