Ambassador Lu Shaye’s keynote speech at CCBC’s Atlantic Chapter Official Launch: 

Honourable Stephen McNeil,

Ms. Sarah Kutulakos,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to come to the beautiful city Halifax again to meet with friends, both old and new.

At the outset, I would like to congratulate the establishment of the Halifax branch of the Canada China Business Council (CCBC). As its first branch in eastern Canada, it is of great significance in raising the influence of the CCBC. It is also an important move for the business circles of the two countries to further deepen economic and trade cooperation.

Founded 41 years ago, the CCBC has grown in parallel with China’s reform and opening up, and witnessed the great achievements China has made. The CCBC has also grown stronger through continuous exchanges with China, and become a chamber of commerce with extensive influence in Canada and China.

I hereby would like to extend my thanks to the board members of CCBC, including President Graham Shantz, the staff, and all member enterprises of the CCBC, for your positive role in promoting the long-term and steady development of China-Canada economic and trade cooperation. I also hope that enterprises in Nova Scotia will strengthen cooperation with China through the CCBC.

In 2018, the trade volume between China and Canada exceeded C$100 billion for the first time, reaching C$103.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.2%. Exports to China reached C$27.64 billion, up by 17.1% compared to the previous year, and imports from China reached C$75.55 billion, an increase of 6.5%. Bilateral trade volume accounted for 8.8% of Canada’s trade volume. Moreover, China continues to be Canada’s second largest trading partner, the second largest export destination and the second largest source of imports.

In 2018, China’s economic and trade cooperation with Nova Scotia continued to maintain a strong momentum. The trade between China and Nova Scotia reached C$1.187 billion, growing by 22.4% year-on-year. Imports from China amounted to C$392 million, registering a growth of 9.5%, while exports to China amounted to C$795 million, a growth of 30.1%.

Nova Scotia government attaches high importance to cooperation with China. Premier McNeil paid visit every year to China since his taking office. Just in this month, he had a successful trip to China. High-quality Atlantic lobsters from Nova Scotia have been widely known to Chinese consumers. And the cooperation in agriculture, fishery as well as marine science and technology between China and Nova Scotia is thriving. This morning, I had a very fruitful Annual dialog with Premier McNeil, comparing notes on bilateral cooperation in various fields.

Last year, Canada sent a large delegation to attend the first China International Import Expo and signed a procurement agreement of C$1.67 billion, of which 11 cooperation agreements were signed between the enterprises from the Atlantic provinces and Chinese purchasers. The cumulative transaction amount hit C$320 million.

While fully recognizing our achievements, we cannot ignore problems. The current situation of China-Canada relations has indeed had a great impact on bilateral exchanges and cooperation, which we do not want to see. Although China is not the root cause of the problem, the Chinese government and people are willing to work together with the Canadian government, the business community, and people of wisdom who sincerely hope for the stable development of bilateral relations, to meet each other halfway and bring bilateral relations back to the right track, so as to create a good environment for mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The world today is undergoing a new round of great development, tremendous transformation and profound exchanges. The protectionism and unilateralism are rising, seriously damaging the multilateralism and free trade system. The economic globalization, in spite of headwind, is an irreversible historical trend of which China and Canada are staunch supporters.

China is taking comprehensive steps to deepen reform and pursuing high-level opening up. China is committed to building a new open economic system. It is easing market access, reducing tariffs, expanding the opening up of the service industry, and wholly implementing the management system of pre-entry national treatment plus a negative list, and has issued the new Foreign Investment Law.

Last month, the 2nd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was successfully held in Beijing. As the largest cooperation platform and the most popular public goods in the world, the Belt and Road Initiative has produced remarkable results in promoting connectivity, aligning development strategies, complementing each other’s strengths and interconnected development. Canada officially joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2017 and has carried out the third-party cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative with China since then.

The development of China has brought infinite business opportunities to all countries, including Canada. In the next 10 years, China’s overseas investment will reach US $1.25 trillion; in the next 5 years, China’s imports will total more than US $10 trillion, and outbound tourists will exceed 700 million. We can fairly say that economic and trade cooperation between China and Canada in genera, and between China and Nova Scotia in particular, will surely reach a new level along with this trend.

Ladies and gentlemen,

China’s door of opening up will not be closed but open even wider. The Chinese Embassy in Canada will continue to work with people from all walks of life in Canada to write a new chapter in China-Canada economic and trade cooperation together.