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December 1, 1997
(Industry, Trade and Technology)


The following statement was issued today by Judy Foote, Minister of Industry, Trade and Technology. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

With the continued reduction of trade barriers and the rapid advancement of technology, the world truly is becoming a global marketplace. It has been said many times that we will never prosper by selling to ourselves. Our companies must continue to look outside the province for new opportunities if our economy is to diversify and grow.

Today, I am pleased to briefly inform my Honorable Colleagues of the results of a recent trade mission to Iceland that I had the opportunity to lead on behalf of the provincial government.

The mission follows a visit in October by a representative of the Canadian Consulate General Office in Reykjavik who presented to our local industry associations and met with individual companies to assess the benefits of a return trade mission.

I was joined by representatives of seven companies from our province. While the company representatives experienced varying degrees of success, all have deemed the trip to be a valuable initiative. Some of the companies are presently doing business in Iceland and many have established valuable contacts during the trip, which they anticipate will lead to future business.

Iceland has a landscape such that it is extremely difficult to grow trees. As a result, the vast majority of forest products used in the country are imported. This presents an export opportunity for companies from our province involved in this sector.

Mr. Harvey Short of Nu-Way Kitchens, which manufactures solid wood doors and cabinets, participated in several meetings with potential customers and was requested to ship kitchen cabinet displays to several companies. He expects that his export sales will be increased by 10 per cent as a result of the trade mission. He is also pursuing the possibility of partnering with another company in Iceland.

Mr. Chris Hewitt of Classic Woodworks, which manufactures solid wood mouldings, participated in meetings with the same seven companies as Mr. Short. He was also asked to ship samples of his product. In mid-January, he will be sending a container of mouldings to Iceland an order that he secured during the trip.

Mr. Jerome Flynn of Hi-Rise Maintenance presently employs six Newfoundlanders on a project replacing transmission towers for radio stations in Eider, which is located in northern Iceland. As a result of this trade mission, he identified two projects for which he will submit proposals this spring. He has also indicated that the trip will result in an expected increase in export sales by next year.

Mr. Ken Butt of Lotek Marine Engineering was pleased with the outcome of the trade mission and was involved in several meetings with Icelandic competitors. He anticipates future visits to the area, with future business opportunities existing in Norway.

Mr. Steven Glavin of Nautical Data International, which is a product and service provider for the fishing and shipping industries. This company supplies electronic maps and charts for ships bridges. Of the four companies he met with, Mr. Glavin has indicated that a strong possibility exists to obtain work from all of these companies plus an opportunity for technology transfer agreement with another. NDI estimates that it may have increased its export business and expects to have a proposal for additional business completed after Christmas.

International Communications and Navigation (ICAN) provides the software and hardware for the ships bridges that access the information provided by NDI. Mr. Banks Scott represented the company on the mission and indicated that there is potential to access over 200 fishing systems in Iceland. With over 750 ships in Iceland, and over 2,000 in Norway, both NDI and ICAN see repeat visits to and return visits from Iceland in the future.

Newfoundland Containers, which makes packaging containers, has been doing business in Iceland for five years. During the mission, Mr. Kevin Fitzgerald has increased his market capability with increased product lines and anticipates that the company has increased its export sales by 15 - 20 per cent as a result of the mission. In Iceland, he established valuable business contacts with representatives from Norway and Africa.

When the Department of Industry, Trade and Technology was restructured in April of last year, it was clearly stated that we would work closer with industry associations to achieve mutual objectives. I am pleased to say that one of the participants in this mission was Mr. Burf Ploughman, Executive Director of the Alliance of Manufacturers and Exporters of Newfoundland, which also found the trip to be beneficial and deserves credit for promoting manufacturing and exporting sector capabilities that exist in our province.

I also used the opportunity to promote our attractiveness as a competitive investment location and the capabilities and expertise resident in our province. I spoke to the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce about the results of the recent KPMG study that placed St. John's as the lowest cost location among 42 jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and Western Europe. I also spoke with reporters from two local daily newspapers and the national television station and I met with the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Industry to discuss trade issues that impact on other companies doing business in Iceland in the future.

We believe there is potential for more business in Iceland and other countries. We will be following up on this mission and actively encouraging other companies that are export-ready to consider pursuing markets outside the province.

At the conclusion of the Iceland mission, I went to Ireland to follow-up on initiatives stemming from the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed by Premier Tobin and the Prime Minister of Ireland during a visit in November of 1996.

In Ireland, government officials, union leaders and representatives of the business community play a key role in facilitating economic development by cooperatively working together. There is much to learn from the "Irish experience" and based on the meetings in which I participated, there is a genuine willingness to help us in any way to further trade development and partnering.

One example of this cooperation lies in an initiative we are presently pursuing with the assistance of Kieran McGowan, whom Honorable Members will recall visited the province recently and who heads up Ireland's Industrial Development Authority.

This organization has experienced an incredible amount of success in recent years in attracting foreign investment to Ireland. We are presently negotiating the details of an exchange initiative where an official of Ireland's Industrial Development Authority would assess our investment attraction efforts and provide advice on how to increase our chances of attracting foreign investment. We would reciprocate the exchange by posting a senior official from the Department of Industry, Trade and Technology at their offices in Ireland to learn about their process. This initiative would provide us with helpful insight into the high level of success experienced by the IDA in attracting investment from all over the world to Ireland.

I also met with Mary Harney, Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland. She indicated a willingness to provide companies in Newfoundland and Labrador access to a database of Irish companies.

She also indicated that they will investigate the possibility of posting our companies on that database, which is made available to companies in Ireland. I also used the opportunity to invite Ms. Harney to lead a delegation of Irish companies to Softworld '98, which Honorable Colleagues know will be hosted in St. John's next year.

I also met with officials of IAWS Group Limited. This is an Ireland-based company which did in excess of one billion dollars in business in 1996. This is a very diversified company doing business in the fishing industry, animal feed, fertilizer, energy and agri-foods industry. My officials will be following up on a number of identified opportunities that came from this meeting.

Finally, we were provided with an overview of the biotechnology industry in Ireland by representatives of Bioresearch Ireland. We also met with a biotechnology company called Biotrin, which has been very successful in combining research and development activities with a strong marketing capability. We see many opportunities to partner with companies such as Biotrin and learn from the experience of Bioresearch Ireland in growing the biotechnology field in Newfoundland and Labrador. In fact, we have already identified an opportunity where a company in Newfoundland will be able to partner with Biotrin International to jointly market their products throughout the world.

While there are obvious differences between ourselves and Ireland, there are also deep ties and strong connections. We believe there is a great deal to be gained by building on our relationship with valuable business contacts in Ireland.

We will diligently pursue all opportunities associated with our partnership with Ireland and I am confident that you will hear more details arising out of this initiative in the future.

1997 12 10 3:00 p.m.

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