Rideau Hall, Tuesday, June 17, 2008

It is a pleasure to welcome you to Rideau Hall and to wish you a very warm welcome to Canada.

We are gathered here this morning in a spirit of sharing, openness and reconciliation among peoples, and I am delighted to be here with you.

The horizons of our lives, long limited to our own village, region or country, have now expanded to global proportions and call for greater solidarity and more co‑operation and opportunities for partnership.

We now need to include the entire planet in our definition of community.

The earthquake that struck Sichuan Province in China on May 12 demonstrated how closely intertwined our destinies are.

Canadians were deeply touched by that tragedy, which affected so many of your people, Excellency, and touched so many Canadian families of Chinese origin. Please know that you are in our hearts and in our thoughts in these difficult times.

I would also like to take the opportunity to offer you, on behalf of Canada, my best wishes for success during the Olympic Games in Beijing this August.

We are delighted to be able to forge warm, open ties with all of you here, based on common interests.

Peru and Trinidad and Tobago are important partners in the Americas, and we hope to strengthen the ties of friendship that unite us from one end of the continent to the other.

We look forward to the APEC Summit in Lima next November, and the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, in 2009. I want to take this opportunity to salute your leadership.

We are also pleased to count on the co‑ordinating role of Brunei Darussalam to revitalize trade among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Our co‑operation bodes well for the future of our two countries.

I am convinced that all of you here will give new momentum to the trade, diplomatic, cultural and social relations that unite us.

You can henceforth count on the friendship and support of Canadians to forge and facilitate what we hope will be lasting ties.

And so I urge you to take the opportunity to meet with them. You will find that they are open and share your hopes for peace, freedom and prosperity.

And you will discover that Canada contains the world and that we Canadians treasure our diversity, for it brings us unlimited possibilities.

You will see that the rule of law, respect for human dignity, equality between men and women, freedom of speech and the responsibility to act, good governance, and sustainable development are all values that we are committed to promoting, here at home and around the world, and that they are part and parcel of what our citizenship means to us and the role we want to play in the world.

For Canada, this year marks the 400^th anniversary of the founding of the City of Québec. Major celebrations will kick off in the Old Capital starting on July 3.

We are celebrating 400 years of French presence in the Americas. It is a notable chapter in our collective history, and I hope you will join us in celebrating that event.

The City of Québec is a jewel, both architecturally and historically, designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Moreover, Ambassador Bony, we dearly hope to welcome a delegation from Côte d’Ivoire to the Sommet de la Francophonie, which will be held here, in the City of Québec, in October, during the celebrations.

Dialogue, partnership and fellowship mark the cornerstones of the spirit in which member and observer countries of La Francophonie will move forward together to achieve their common objectives. The Côte d’Ivoire has a strong and unique voice within La Francophonie, one we have come to count on.

Continuing our dialogue, strengthening our ties and working together toward a common goal: this is what we should focus on throughout your mandate, strong in the friendship that binds us.

I believe profoundly in diplomacy at the human level.

And so, to friendship, sharing and solidarity!