We have come full circle. We are back in Beijing, where Team Canada first hit the road in 1994. We have travelled thousands of kilometres since then. And we have cut a lot of deals. Many of our faces have changed. But the simple principle on which Team Canada has become such a success remains the same: when Canadians work as a team in the global economy -- we win.

Team Canada has proven that great things come from simple ideas. Ours has become an extraordinary partnership. That bridges region, language and partisan politics. That brings together creative governments with the best of Canadian business to expand markets abroad and create jobs at home.

It was no accident that China was chosen as the first country to which Team Canada should go. Our relationship evokes a strong sense of history. Forty years ago, Canada challenged the mind set of the Cold War, providing wheat for the Chinese people at a time of great difficulty.

Last fall, Canadians mourned the passing of a man who led the Western world in lifting the Cold War isolation of China: Pierre Elliott Trudeau. And we have just marked the 30 year anniversary of one of his greatest legacies. I am very pleased that we have with us tonight a Canadian of great distinction – the Honourable Mitchell Sharp. As Minister of External Affairs, he led the effort of Mr. Trudeau to achieve diplomatic relations between our nations in 1970.

My friends, Canada and China have broken much new ground together. But the past is just prologue. I am here to talk about the future. About how out two nations can break new ground in the 21st century.

Every day, it seems, we hear about a new technological breakthrough that magnifies the power of knowledge, accelerates the speed of social and economic change, and opens up new opportunities for businesses and nations to broaden their horizons.

Mr. Prime Minister, Team Canada is central to the Canadian response to globalization.

Canadian firms have also risen to the challenge of high speed change with technology and innovative products and services. And we have brought them all to China.

Canadian transportation know-how -- in regional aircraft, automobiles, trains and container transport -- moves people and products throughout China. Canada is a trade mark in China for state-of-the-art technologies that yield efficient and sustainable results in energy, mining, forestry and construction, environmental systems, agriculture, and animal genetics.

I have had the pleasure of visiting a Canadian hi-technology project, not far from here, that is a superb example of our combined ingenuity. It is a joint venture that ships fresh, high quality lettuce to Beijing grocery stores every day.

This is the kind of vision and performance that many Canadian firms have already showcased in China. And it is just a small sample of the huge potential that awaits Canadian firms who bring not only outstanding products and services but also a resolve to build relationships of trust, understanding and mutual benefit.

Such strength of purpose is what Team Canada is all about.

And today, we witnessed the signature of more than one hundred and fifty new agreements that will lead to many more cooperative ventures between dynamic and innovative Canadian and Chinese partners.

Mr. Premier, our visit has also afforded us a chance to see, first hand, the breathtaking scope and awesome challenges that are entailed in China’s Great Western Development Strategy. Canada understands the commitment needed to share prosperity and opportunity across a vast land. It staggers the imagination to think that China is attempting, in just a few decades, to meet challenges that we had far longer to solve.

I am confident also that many of the solutions you seek to meet your ambitious development goals can be found on Team Canada.

Mr. Premier, ever since China first announced its intention to pursue GATT membership, Canada has provided you with strong support to prepare for this next historic step in the opening of China to the world.

Accession to the WTO will help China further develop its legal structures; improving commercial trade regulations and enforcement. I see this as part of a much broader agenda of developing the rule of law. To ensure fair and equitable treatment before the courts -- for both people and companies. Such progress, I feel, is integral to our ongoing dialogue and exchange on the importance of individual rights and the free expression of ideas.

Earlier today, I addressed the National Judges College on this matter. And I will be expanding on it further when I address students in Shanghai later this week.

Mr. Premier, we look forward to celebrating China’s WTO accession. But our support will not end there. Our policy advice and support will continue in the future, if you deem it useful.

Canada and China also understand the importance of a well educated, innovative population to success in the new economy. China has made a bold commitment to vastly increase participation in higher education and introduce the Internet and world class technology into your schools and universities. Here, too, Canadians are ready and able to play a part. Our expertise in distance learning is world class. Our universities and colleges have strong ties. Many more educational linkages were formalized today.

And our companies are also building educational bridges. In this room tonight are a group of students from Beijing’s Qinghua University who are winners of Nortel scholarships.

Mr. Premier, as leaders we also understand that clean air, water and earth are the best heritage we can leave our children. That is why we have long pledged our governments to close and meaningful environmental cooperation. And I am confident that Canadian know-how and technology can continue to assist China to build a sustainable future.

Mr. Premier, in our high speed global village it is clear that not only our nations and companies, but also our citizens, can become partners as never before. A new personal wireless communication devices now taking North America by storm is a Canadian product called the "Blackberry." But few people know that it would not exist without the work of a Chinese graduate student working at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

In Calgary, Canadian engineers have developed the system that is becoming the industry standard for enabling the use of Chinese characters on cell phones and computers. And Canadian and Chinese scientists are working together in real time via the Internet in Beijing and Ottawa, developing technological breakthroughs on a global scale that were unthinkable only a few years ago.

Mr. Premier, I am sure you share my occasional bewilderment at the pace of change these days. Indeed, nothing captures the pace of change in the new economy better than the presence of Team Canada of the President of a Web design firm who is only 13 years old!

But for all of our modern sophistication and complexity I am comforted by the knowledge that great things can still come from simple ideas.

Team Canada is one such idea. So, too, is the Canada-China friendship. One that has proven that openness is better than isolation. That respect and dialogue are more powerful than rhetoric and confrontation. That frank dialogue can make good partners.

We have a rich and storied past together. But it is just prologue. The best is yet to come.

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