Canada – The Global Business Centre

First Published Date : February 9, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

Canada has one of the largest economies on the planet and is a world leader in terms of investment, resources and more. Go anywhere in the world and people will speak highly of Canada and the people there. It should come as no surprise then that the country is well known for being a great place for companies to do business and this is why Canada has the strong possibility of becoming a future global business centre for the world. While many people tend to think more of the United States than Canada, Canada has many things going for it. For one, it typically has better relations with other countries than their southern neighbour and while 75 per cent of the country’s trade is with the United States, that is rapidly changing as emerging markets in India, China, Brazil and Russia begin trading with Canada.

Currently, the Foreign Direct Investment into Canada, over the course of the first decade of the 21st century, has amounted to nearly $400 billion, which happens to be higher than Brazil, India, Mexico and Russia, all emerging superpowers. Foreign direct investment is how much a country trades, long-term, with another country and can include goods, experience, technology and more.

Currently, the total exports and imports of merchandise for Canada make up 58.9 per cent of the Canadian economy, making it one of the most open economies on the planet.

Canada also has one of the highest levels of economic freedom in the world, a very low level of employment and it was one of the few countries to get through the global financial crisis with not too much difficulty.

Another important fact showing how much foreign investment is coming into Canada and why it is a global business centre is based on the fact that according to Forbes magazine in 2008, Canada has 69 of the worlds largest companies working in the country, putting it fifth next to France. In addition, the government debt of the country is one of the lowest on the planet and the lowest of all the top eight (G8) economies on the planet.

International trade is an immense part of the Canadian economy because of its high amount of natural resources. The largest exports in Canada are found in the agricultural, energy, mining and forestry sectors, accounting for 58 per cent of the country’s exports. Canada also exports machinery, equipment, automotive products and other manufactured goods make up 38 per cent of the exports in the country. With the combined exports and imports of the country, Canada ranks eighth on the planet.

Another main reason that Canada is a global business centre of the future is because it has several free trade pacts in place, as well as in the works. Current free trade pacts include the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement, the Canada Chili Free Trade Agreement, the Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement, the Canada-European Free Trade Association Free Trade Agreement, the Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement, the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, the Canada-Jordan Free Trade Agreement and the Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement.

Currently, Canada is negotiating having a free trade agreement with the following countries and political entities: Ukraine, Morocco, India, South Korea, Dominican Republic, Singapore, Andean Community, Caricom (Caribbean community), European Union and a possible Canada Central American Free Trade Agreement.

Canada is working hard to become a global business centre and that is evident through several programs running within the country, including ConsiderCanada.com, which is helping to get countries investing within Canada to help themselves and the Canadian economy.

The government of Canada has also created the Invest in Canada organization, which promotes and attracts foreign direct investment in Canada. The organization operates as a bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The goal of Invest in Canada is to get companies planning on investing in Canada more information to do so, and to get those already invested in Canada to expand their operations within the country.

Invest in Canada, as does ConsiderCanada.com, helps guide companies through the investment process from giving information to helping them choose a site for their business.

With organizations devoted to helping Canada become the global business centre of the future, and an economy already suited to foreign investment, what more evidence is there that Canada is the global business centre of the 21st century? Well, these facts are what companies are looking at when they are thinking of putting their operations in a country.

1. Canada has the soundest banking system on the entire planet, which is incredibly important right now in tough economic times. While the United States had several banks fail during the global recession, Canada had none. This is why the World Economic Forum chose Canada as the best banking system country on Earth.

2. Canada has the highest proportion of post-secondary graduates in the Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development.

3. Canada has the fastest economic growth in 2011 for all the G7 countries, which include the largest economies on the planet. In addition, it also has the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7 and the lowest taxes on new business investment in the G7. Canada also has the lowest research and development costs in the G7.

4. Canada has a very high quality of life and is often chosen as the best country to live in on Earth.

One major factor to Canada becoming a global business centre in the coming years was put in place by the Government of Canada in 2010 when they announced the initiative to reduce tariffs on all manufacturing inputs down to zero per cent by 2015.

So, is Canada the global business centre of the future? According to these statistics, yes it is and many companies are now investing heavily in the great white north because it is the right country to be in at this time.

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