Press Release - 10th March 2008

Building the Transatlantic Bridge: The potential for Canada-UK trade

To celebrate Commonwealth Day, Global Vision publishes a new paper, Building the Transatlantic Bridge: The potential for Canada-UK trade. The paper argues that the global economy is in a state of evolution; new rules are being established, new partnerships are being forged, and new markets are coming into the mainstream. ‘Globalisation' is actually the process by which the world economy is evolving. The Commonwealth countries, and Canada and the UK in particular, have a natural trade advantage which should be exploited in the age of globalisation.

Author Brent Cameron states:

"In terms of trade between Canada and the UK, the common use of English nullifies the impact of the ocean that separates us. The use of a common language and legal structures has more of an impact on our bilateral trade than the adoption of a single currency has had for the eurozone. Canada's exports to the UK in 2004 were 25 percent higher than the year before, yet no free trade treaty exists between us.

Canada-UK trade is not just about two sister nations of the Commonwealth deepening our ties. It is about constructing the two end points to the bridge that unites Europe and North America, and opens access to our broader family - nearly 2 billion of us in total. As gatekeepers on respective ends of the bridge, Britons and Canadians have a powerful role to play in shaping the evolution of globalisation, and our own futures. That is, if we recognise it."

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Notes to editors

1. Global Vision is a non-partisan campaign group backed by economists and business leaders that argues for a looser British relationship with the EU, based on free trade and mutually beneficial cooperation, whilst opting out of economic and political union. Global Vision believes that this is the right relationship for Britain in the 21st century's rapidly changing world. For more details on Global Vision please visit our website: http://www.global-vision.net/.

2. Commonwealth Day is the second Monday in March. This year, 2008, it is the 10^th March.