Good afternoon, everyone. Just before I begin, I want to express on behalf of myself, the Canadian delegation our appreciation to President Lee, our Korean host, for an extraordinary set of meetings, an extraordinary productive set of meetings, also for their hospitality, their friendship and their partnership.

So we will be going back to Ottawa shortly, so going to Ottawa, after concluding an important and very productive week.

This marked my first trip to Asia as Prime Minister and Asia is a region like Canada that's at the forefront – at the coal face, if you will – of the global transformation that is gathering pace. And throughout my visit and in every conversation, whether it was with a world leader, a CEO, an investor, there was one theme that was constant, which is the uncertainty, the uncertainty around transformation. But because this is Asia, the conversation quickly turned to the opportunities because uncertainty holds back investment, it freezes business strategies, it curtails jobs.

Opportunity comes from fundamentally changing how countries trade, how they partner, how they build and the technologies that go with that.

Canada has found itself at a turning point, at the dawn of a new era, which was once the mainstay of our prosperity, is in the process of disappearing. The new world has yet to emerge. Our response today will shape our economic future for decades to come.

Ambition, innovation and growth will be the hallmark of Canada's next chapter.

In three days, our government will table our first federal budget. 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.

Our budget will respond head on, head on to the challenges of our time. We all know the United States is changing its trading relationship with Canada but it's changing all of its trading relationships. And after all the noise of this week, Canada still has the best trade deal of any country with the US and we stand ready to negotiate an even better one for both countries.

But in that backdrop, we know that we have to transform our economy. Transform it from one of reliance on a single trade partner to one that's more resilient to global shocks, to an economy built on the solid foundations of strong Canadian industries and bolstered by diverse international trade partners. That's one of the core aims of Budget 2025. To catalyze unprecedented levels of investment in Canada, generational investments that will create good, high-paying not just jobs, good, high-paying careers for Canadian workers.

And on top of that, we're embarking on an ambitious new mission to double our non-US exports over the next decade. This alone will generate $300 billion more in trade for our economy, for Canadian workers and their families. That's new orders for Canadian resources, Canadian industries and Canadian expertise.

Our foremost priority in Southeast Asia is to diversify trade and attract investments to Canada. The Canadian Ministers of Defence and Trade and myself, we have been working to establish new partnerships and generate fresh prospects for Canadians. We intend to secure new trade agreements in one of the world’s most economically dynamic regions, a region at the forefront of global growth.

The meetings just over the last few days at APEC, which stands for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, this is a group that is a global economic powerhouse: 21-member, economies representing over 60%, 6-0% of the world's GDP, half of the world's trade with nearly 40% of the world's population. An exciting future is being written here, in Asia, and we're here to ensure that Canada is a big part of it and benefits from it.

In Gyeongju, I met with the President of Korea, President Lee, to announce a new security and defence cooperation partnership, the first of its kind for Canada in the Indo-Pacific. We're deepening cooperation with Korea on security, defence and in emerging domains such as cyber, AI and quantum. Korea is one of our closest allies.

This global strategic partnership between Canada and Korea will bolster the open, free and rules-based Indo-Pacific region. This agreement will stimulate innovation in the defence sector and generate new prospects for Canadian and Korean workforces.

You know, since we signed our free trade agreement with Korea about a decade ago, trade between our two nations has doubled. That's just the start. We can do a lot more. So next year, there will be a Team Canada trade mission to Korea to find new markets and new customers for Canadian businesses and their workers.

Also here in Gyeongju, I met with the Prime Minister of Thailand and he and I agreed that we will launch free trade negotiations between our nations with the intention of completing them over the next year. Thailand is Canada's second-largest trading partner in Southeast Asia and a new free trade agreement will create new opportunities for Canadian companies in agri-food, in infrastructure, in clean technology and defense.

Yesterday, President Xi of China and I had the first formal meeting between the leaders of our two countries in nearly eight years. We have to talk to each other if we want to make progress and address issues. We agreed this meeting marked a turning point in our bilateral relationship. We have now unlocked a path forward to address current issues and to build the enormous opportunities between our two countries, including in agriculture, energy, clean technologies, tourism and cultural exchanges.

I have accepted President Xi's invitation to visit China in the new year and the President and I directed our ministers and officials to work together to find solutions to current challenges and to identify areas for cooperation and growth in advance of that meeting.

This morning, I met with the President of Chile where we signed an updated Canada - Chile strategic partnership, deepening cooperation in critical minerals, clean energy, wildfire management and digital technologies. Chile is the world's largest copper producer. It has the world's largest reserves of copper and lithium and it wants to work with Canada's sophisticated mining and infrastructure investors to develop sustainably those resources and the supply chains.

Canada and Chile have been partners in a free-trade agreement since 1997. We are reinforcing this relationship to increase the volume of Canadian exports and generate further business opportunities for Canadian companies, in particular in the mining, pharmaceutical product and machinery sectors.

This progress in the last few days builds on the momentum from earlier this week on the margins of the ASEAN Summit where I met with President Marcos of the Philippines, and he and I agreed to initiate negotiations on a new free trade agreement between our two nations, Canada and the Philippines, with a goal of concluding it by this time next year. In all of my meetings with the ASEAN leaders, I heard a consistent message. Canada (sic) wants to do more with Canada. And to that end, we agreed to accelerate the Canada ASEAN free trade negotiations, targeting completion by next year. And for reference, ASEAN is 20% of the global economy.

That new free trade agreement, when it is completed, will create jobs for Canadian workers in sectors such as critical minerals, clean tech, agri-food, aerospace and advanced manufacturing, while lowering prices for Canadian consumers in goods from electronics to clothing.

This week, I also met with CEOs of multinational companies, investors and heads of sovereign wealth funds from across Asia with a mission to catalyze new investment into Canada. With the Minister of National Defence, I visited the Hanwha Ocean Shipyard, which is one of two finalists for the Canadian patrol submarine project. This project will protect Canadians, will help protect our allies, and we will design it so it provides enormous ongoing investment and jobs in Canada.

In Kuala Lumpur, we announced funding to expand the Blackberry Cyber Security Centre of Excellence into an international hub for cyber intelligence and security innovation, witnessed Malaysia Airlines sign a deal with CAE to purchase Canadian-built flight simulator and a testament to Canada's ever-growing footprint in the region.

Our government is working hard, it's moving fast to expand Canada's reach globally. We've already signed new agreements with the UAE in artificial intelligence infrastructure, the European Union in defence and trade, Germany in critical minerals, Mexico in agri-food.

We have also finalized negotiations on a free-trade agreement with Ecuador that reduces or eliminates tariffs on most Canadian imports.

Last month in Ottawa, we concluded a historic free trade agreement with Indonesia.

Now, as I said earlier, the mission of Budget 2025 is to catalyze unprecedented investment in Canada. So to support that, we're forging these new partnerships with APEC countries so Canadian workers and businesses can sell more of what we build and grow. And we are making it easier to build more, build big and build fast in Canada. Canada is entering a new era. This is our moment to define our next century. We have the resources to transform our economy from one of reliance to resilience. We're an energy superpower with the third-largest reserves of oil and the fourth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world.

This past June, we shipped our first LNG export to Asia. By 2030, we will produce 50 million tonnes of LNG each year, all destined for Asian markets. By 2040, that number could double.

We already have a domestic electricity grid that is 85% clean, which we can increase by another 50% through new generation, including large-scale hydro and nuclear, both utility scale and commercial SMRs.

Last week, we announced a new funding plan for the Darlington nuclear project that will make Canada the first G7 country to have an operational small modular reactor.

This new reactor will help power clean manufacturing, AI infrastructure, and the electric tariffication of our sustainable economy.

You know, we are having all these conversations, making these agreements on critical minerals because we are among the top five producers of 10 critical minerals that are essential for the energy transition. So we're fast-tracking mines and producing to meet demand.

We are the premier destination in the world for people with master’s degrees, and we are home to the most qualified workforce on the planet. Canada is a world leader in clean energy, artificial intelligence, life sciences and quantum computing.

In an uncertain world, to go back to where I started, in an uncertain world, a confident Canada is charting its own course, finding new partners, making major investments, seizing the future for Canadian workers and their families because we are Canada strong.