加拿大国际贸易部长裴迪格鲁演讲(2)
Meetings like this are an excellent opportunity for government officials and business leaders from different countries to exchange views on the critical issues of the day.
Over the past few decades， average life expectancy in many developing countries has risen， from 45 to 64. Literacy rates have almost doubled. The percentage of the world's people with access to safe， clean water has increased from 45 percent to 70 percent. And according to a study by the UNDP， cited during our debates at the APEC Conference by my colleague， Ambassador Zoellick， the United States Trade Representative， there has been more poverty reduction in the last fifty years than in the previous five hundred years ？- and those fifty years saw a seventeen-fold increase in international trade， under the framework of the GATT and the WTO.
The evidence is the same on the question of the environment. An index of environmental sustainability in 122 countries prepared for the World Economic Forum this year showed a strong correlation between a country's commitment to the environment and its overall wealth.
I could go on. The fact of the matter is， as Clive Crook wrote recently in The Economist， “economic integration is a force for good； ？-globalization， far from being the greatest cause of poverty， is its only feasible cure.”
You and I， and our colleagues and counterparts in government and business， must embrace that message and become its champions.
Right now， the general public tends to hear only one side of the debate. While anti-globalists capture headlines with their angry demonstrations and their street theatre， those who support stronger trade relationships tend to be muted in their support.
As Woody Allen once said： “80% of genius is just showing up！” We must speak up， before time runs out. Because the failure to push forward with trade liberalization and the strengthening of a rules-based international trading system could result in a major setback. That would be devastating. And an opportunity to send a powerful signal of confidence and determination will be missed， at a time when the global economy is slowing down.
