Good… we’re still afternoon? Right? Good afternoon. Good evening, hello, everyone. Let me just before I start, I would like to just pass on my appreciation, the appreciation of the entire Canadian delegation, to our Malaysian hosts, particularly Dr. Ibrahim, the Prime Minister, for an extraordinary group of meetings, extraordinary hospitality, which is going to continue for the next few hours this evening.

You know, from our perspective, a highly productive few days at the ASEAN summit here in Kuala Lumpur. I’ve been joined by the delegation, including our Minister of International Trade, and we have focused on building new partnerships and unlocking new economic opportunities that will benefit Canadian workers and their businesses. 

We have come together at a time that is both crucial and full of opportunities. The world has become more dangerous and divided. The global trading system is undergoing fundamental changes. Technological change and the energy transition are accelerating at an unprecedented rate. The old world order is in the past. And although Canada prospered in that system, we know that nostalgia is not a strategy. That is why we are forging a new way forward for our country. 

On November 4^th, our government will table the first federal budget, our first federal budget, and that will be our plan to protect our communities, our borders, our way of life. Our plan to build a stronger economy where everyone has a chance to get ahead. And our plan to empower Canadians with new opportunities, better careers, and a lower cost of living. Central to those missions is our intention to double our non-U.S. exports over the course of the next decade. That alone will generate $300 billion in more trade, new orders for Canadian resources, Canadian industries, and Canadian expertise. I chose my summit for my first visit as prime minister to Asia because the Canada-ASEAN relationship is full of potential. This is a region of nearly 700 million consumers, with a market worth over $5 trillion. It’s already Canada’s second-largest trading partner, with over $260 billion in two-way merchandise trade alone. Yet, even at those levels, it still only represents about 10% of our exports. To build those exports, to double our non-U.S. exports, our government is working to strike a series of new trade deals, including here in the Indo-Pacific. In the past few months, we’ve signed new agreements with the United Arab Emirates in artificial intelligence, with the European Union in defence and broader trade, with Germany in critical minerals, with Mexico, in agri-food. We signed a free trade deal with Ecuador that reduces or eliminates tariffs on the majority of Canadian exports. And last month, in Ottawa, we concluded a historic free trade agreement with Indonesia, Canada’s first bilateral free trade agreement with an ASEAN nation. This week, in Kuala Lumpur, we agreed to accelerate progress on a new Canada-ASEAN free trade agreement, targeting completion of that agreement next year.

Yesterday, I met with the prime ministers of Laos and Vietnam, as well as the President of the Philippines, to move those talks forward. Now, that deal would add about one and a half billion dollars to our economy, giving Canadian workers and businesses greater access to this fast-growing market – in fact, probably, arguably, the fastest-growing market in the world – and would create jobs for Canadian workers in sectors ranging from critical minerals to cleantech, agri-food, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing. All while lowering prices for Canadian consumers on goods like electronics and clothing. In addition, President Marcos of the Philippines and I agreed yesterday to launch talks on a new free trade agreement between our two nations, again with the goal of concluding that agreement next year. This week, we also made significant progress on energy. Today, Canada and Malaysia signed a letter of intent to deepen investment in liquefied natural gas and oil, nuclear power, and renewables.

I met with the CEO and the senior management of Petronas, one of the world’s largest energy companies and already a major investor in LNG in Canada, LNG Canada Phase 1…LNG facility in Kitimat, British Columbia. Now, Phase 2 of this project will double production, making the project as a whole the second-largest LNG facility in the world, creating tens of thousands of new, high-paying Canadian careers. That project, Phase 2, has been referred to our new Major Projects Office because we want it built and we want it built faster to the benefit of Canadians, including Indigenous partners in the project. Together, with Petronas, we are exploring other new opportunities to expand our partnership and strengthen Canada’s role as a reliable energy supplier. By the end of this decade, 2030, Canada can produce nearly 50 million tonnes of LNG each year, enough to supply Singapore, where I’m going tomorrow, five times over. We can double that production again by 2040.

We are also working in the field of carbon capture and are putting our resources to work to help ASEAN transition toward a more resilient, low-emission economy. By putting Canadian innovation to work for ASEAN’s energy infrastructure, like its new electricity grid, we are opening the door to billions of dollars in new opportunities for Canadian companies and Canadian workers, and we are helping our ASEAN partners to achieve their connectivity goals.

Canada’s also unlocking new opportunities in technology. Canada’s BlackBerry offers its Cybersecurity Center of Excellence here in Malaysia; we announced an investment to expand that centre into an international hub for cyber intelligence and security innovation, something I discussed this afternoon with Prime Minister Ibrahim. Today, I visited CAE, with whom Malaysia Airlines has just signed a deal to purchase another Canadian-built flight simulator. I met the CEO of AirAsia yesterday about a potentially large order for A220 planes designed and built in Quebec. These are the kinds of partnerships we will keep building because Canada has what the world wants: world-class talent with expertise in clean technology, artificial intelligence, life sciences, and quantum computing. We’re the world’s number one, number one destination for master’s degrees and doctorates. We have the most educated workforce in the world. We’re an energy superpower with the third-largest reserves of oil and the fourth-largest reserves of natural gas. We have an 85% clean grid, which we can readily increase by another 50% to power clean manufacturing, clean AI infrastructure, and the electrification of our sustainable economy. We have deposits of over 34 critical minerals, and we’re amongst the top five producers for the 10 critical minerals most essential for the world’s energy transition.

Over the next five years, we will be quadrupling, quadrupling our defence industrial spending, strengthening our role in collective security and creating new careers in our defence and associated industries. Next week, Canada’s defence minister will be in the Philippines to deepen our cooperation with Southeast Asia, expanding access for the Canadian Armed Forces for training and joint operations in the Philippines, strengthening our shared commitment to regional stability. The combination of these economic strengths and the budget strategy I referenced earlier – our budget strategy to spend less so that Canadians can invest more – will give investors confidence to build more in Canada. It will give innovators the stability they need to take risks in Canada, and it will reinforce the reasons the world has to trust Canadians as reliable partners.

Canada has what the world wants. Canada has what the world needs. It’s up to us to sell the world what Canada has to offer.

Selling our products to the world is a Team Canada effort. Federal ministers are working hard, securing deals, and building relationships across to Asia. Premiers from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, to Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island are leading trade missions across the region.

Tomorrow, I will be heading to Singapore to meet with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and major investors to promote cooperation in the areas of trade, energy, and technology. And, later this week, I will be taking part in the APEC leaders’ summit in South Korea to build on this progress and strengthen our ties in the areas of agriculture, defence, and critical minerals.

To finish, to quote our host Prime Minister Ibrahim, “The old world order is disappearing and a new one has yet to emerge.” Times like this, it’s time to be bold, because how we respond will shape Canada’s path for decades to come. By making generational investments at home and by building deeper partnerships abroad, we will build Canada strong.