Report

The Canadian delegation was composed of the following members:

From the Senate:  Hon. Joseph A. Day, Senator (Delegation Co-Leader); Hon. Don Plett, Senator.

From the House of Commons:  Hon. Bryon Wilfert, P.C. M.P. (Delegation Co-Leader); Sukh Dhaliwal, M.P.; Russ Hiebert, M.P., Luc Malo, M.P., Andrew Saxton, M.P., Merv Tweed, M.P.

The delegation was assisted by Ms. Elizabeth Kingston, Executive Secretary of the Canada-Japan Inter-Parliamentary Group and the Canada-China Legislative Association.

The Honourable Bryon Wilfert, P.C., M.P. and the Honourable Joseph A. Day, Senator, led the Canadian parliamentary delegation which participated in the 19th Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), held in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia from January 23 to January 27, 2011.  Delegates from 17 member parliaments and two observer country attended the meeting.  The Forum, held on an annual basis, is one of the most significant and diverse gatherings of parliamentarians from the Asia-Pacific Region. Canadian delegates made various interventions throughout the forum and actively participated in the debate in the drafting committee and its subcommittees.

During the 19th Meeting the delegates exchanged views on a number of agenda items which were grouped in four broad categories:

1) Political and Security Issues in the Asia-Pacific;

2) Economic and Trade Issues in the Asia-Pacific;

3) Regional Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region; and

4) Future Work of APPF.

The program of the conference is attached in Appendix A.

The Forum allowed for dynamic discussions between parliamentarians and led to the adoption of a Joint Communiqué and 17 resolutions on a wide range of subjects including human trafficking, combating terrorism, energy and food security, democracy in Myanmar, climate change, the Middle East peace process, reform and future work of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum and the situation in the Korean Peninsula. The text of the Joint Communiqué as well as the adopted resolutions may be found in Appendix B and C.

While attending the conference, the Canadian delegation was also able to participate in five bilateral meetings with the delegations from Mongolia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Meeting between Canada and Mongolia delegations

H.E. Damdin Demberel, Chairman of the State Great Hural of Mongolia and other delegation members met with members of the Canadian delegation. Mr. Demberel stated that Canada is the second greatest investor in Mongolia after China, with investment principally in the mining sector. He is grateful for the establishment of the Canada-Mongolia Friendship Group and stated that many members of the Mongolian Parliament are members.

Mongolia is a polity, society and economy in rapid evolution; the country has passed from a one-party authoritarian model to parliamentary democracy and emerging civil society within a time frame of only 20 years. The country is on the verge of significant economic development, fuelled largely by international demand for the country’s significant mineral resources.  In order to reap this benefit however, Mongolia faces significant challenges in terms of governance, regulatory efficiency, fiscal policy, environmental management, education and infrastructure. Mongolia looks very much to Canada to provide assistance to its development in all these important areas of its development.  It was noted however, that an agreement such as FIPA (Foreign Investment Protection Agreement) was fundamental to allow for future business with Mongolia. Such an agreement would provide stability to companies investing and much needed security to the investor.

In the area of military cooperation, both Canada and Mongolia were delighted with the agreement between the two countries to provide training assistance to the Mongolian military.

Meeting between Canada and Cambodia delegations

The Canadian delegation met with His Excellency Hang Samrin, Speaker of the National Assembly of Cambodia and accompanying delegation.  Both delegations agreed that the bilateral relationship between the two countries is strong, and the Speaker expressed thanks and gratitude to Canada for its ongoing assistance in the areas of national reconstruction and peace-building. Also of note was the assistance offered by the Government and Parliament of Canada in the area of capacity building offered to the National Assembly both for its parliamentarians and staff. The delegation was most grateful for the number of exchanges between the two countries, both at the committee level as well as for higher ranking members of the National Assembly.  The delegation re-affirmed Canada’s commitment to strengthen Cambodia’s democratic institutions and provide assistance economically, politically and culturally, leading to an overall strengthening of democracy and human rights in the country.  The Speaker stated that the National Assembly is composed of five parties, with the Cambodian People’s Party being the ruling party, occupying 90 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly. Finally, the Cambodian delegation issued an invitation to the Canadian Parliament to partake in the upcoming AIPA meeting in Cambodia in September 2011.

Meeting between Canada and the Malaysia delegations

The Canadian delegation met with the Malaysian delegation, led by Pandikar Amin, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Mr. Saxton, M.P. remarked that he is the Chair of the newly established Canada-Malaysia Friendship Group and will be travelling to Malaysia in March 2011. Both sides agreed that they would like to see more business between the two countries, especially in the areas of wood products, aqua-culture, bio-tech, agriculture, and information technology.  The Malaysian delegation congratulated Canada for its ongoing support of Burma. Also, they expressed gratitude for the work accomplished by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and expressed disappointment that the funding had ceased.  In the area of education, the Malaysian Speaker stated that he would like to see increased cooperation between Canada and Malaysia in terms of establishing satellite campuses, especially in East Malaysia. He stated that already in West Malaysia, universities from Nottingham and Australia offer satellite campuses, and would like to see a similar program involving Canada. Finally, both sides expressed their willingness to ongoing cooperation as members of the ASEAN group of nations, and agreed to work together to strengthen the rule of law and human rights within the region.

Meeting between Canada and the Indonesia delegations

The Indonesian delegation expressed its willingness to initiate business opportunities with Canada, especially in the mining, hydro-electric, nuclear power, information technology, forestry, and education sectors.

It was expressed, however, that it is difficult for Canadian investors to obtain permits to undertake business in Indonesia, due especially to the ongoing power struggle existing in the country between the national and provincial governments. This situation results in a difficult series of bureaucratic procedures that is very time consuming. Moreover, there exists a problem of security of investment in Indonesia which serves to hamper further any business development.

The Indonesian delegation stated that since the devastating tsunami, they have been working diligently on re-construction projects and have developed an early warning system to provide better anticipatory awareness of any future impending disaster.

Meeting between Canada and Vietnam delegations

The Vietnamese delegation was most appreciative of the relationship between Canada and Vietnam, bolstered by Canada’s support of its educational, parliamentary and judiciary institutions, and of its military capacity-building programs. They expressed an interest in seeing Canada getting more involved in the Asia-Pacific region and welcomed the opportunity of seeing increased investment and business opportunities for Canadian businesses in the Vietnamese marketplace.  The Canadian delegation

welcomed Vietnam’s foreign investment review structure, stating that it is very helpful in encouraging businesses to establish themselves in Vietnam. In this respect they noted the establishment of Manulife and Sunlife in Vietnam. Vietnam offers cheap labour and a wealth of natural resources, and with a population of over 100 million people is considered a sound market for investment opportunities.

In the area of education, the Canadian delegation congratulated Vietnam on introducing the Ontario education curriculum within its schools and in making English mandatory in its schools as of Grade 3.

Conclusion

The Canadian Parliament attaches great importance to the work of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) and is proud to be one of its founding members.  The Forum has allowed Canadian parliamentarians to engage in dialogue with their international counterparts throughout the Asia Pacific region.  Given the global economic crisis and the need to guard against protectionist tendencies, this region is of increasing strategic importance to Canada. The Canadian section of APPF looks forward to participating in the 20th Annual Meeting in Tokyo, Japan in January 2012.

A summary of the expenditures incurred for this activity is attached.

Respectfully submitted,