VIDEO

Transcript of video journal January 24, 2007.

Ontario's business mission to Pakistan

January 24, 2007

I’m here towards the end of our two-and-a-half week trip to India and Pakistan.

We will have visited eight separate cities during the course of this trip.

I’ll have visited Delhi, Agra, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Jalandar and Amritsar, all of those being in India. And then more recently I have found myself here in Pakistan, where I visited Lahore and today I found myself in Islamabad.

During the course of this trip, I’ve been accompanied by close to 100 representatives of various Ontario businesses and institutions — particularly educational institutions — and together they have signed 39 separate agreements with their counterparts either in India, or here in Pakistan.

And one of the remarkable things that is brought home to you as you enjoy the opportunity to meet with people in other parts of the world, is they gain a better understanding for the appreciation for the diversity with which we are blessed in Ontario.

And no matter where we travel, it turns out that we’ve got connections. We have family in a literal sense, or in a figurative sense and we’ve been very well received.

There’s a very high regard held for Ontarians and Canadians generally.

We have worked hard to establish a better working relationship, a stronger friendship and better business ties with the Indians with whom we’ve met, and the Pakistanis as well.

I’m proud to say that one of the things that we will do from a governmental perspective is that we’re going to enter into a twinning relationship with the province of Punjab in Pakistan.

Ontario has not reached out in twin with any other jurisdiction lately and we have never ever before twinned with a jurisdiction, which is predominately Muslim, so I’m proud that we will do that on behalf of the people of Ontario.

I’m proud of the business we’ve been able to do here and the promotion we’ve been able to make of the wonderful quality of life that we enjoy in Ontario, which is something that we sometimes take for granted. But I must say, I’m very much looking forward to returning to Ontario to see my family, my friends and once again to participate in that exceptional quality of life.