The Honorable Wayne Smith, Chairman of the Energy Council,

Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to come to Lake Louise and join you for discussions on the prospects of China-North America Energy Cooperation.

Years ago, it would be hard for people to link China, North America and Energy together.

Today, however, the idea of Trans-Pacific Energy Market has become very much well-known and China-North America energy cooperation is so topical among people of various circles.

The recent energy technology breakthroughs and their application have triggered a fresh wave of energy revolution, as evidenced by the sudden boom of non-conventional energies such as oil sand, shale oil and gas.

And that has led to dramatic changes in the global energy supply and demand pattern.

North America is, without any doubt, occupying the center stage.

According to the recent International Energy Outlook 2013 by the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 20 years' time the United States will be self-sufficient in energy and become a net oil and gas exporter.

Canada will continuously enhance its energy export capability.

And North America, as the report projects, will become the world's new centre of energy supply, on a par with the Middle East, Central Asia and Latin America.

On the other end of the equilibrium, China continues to be the world's largest energy consumer.

And the rapid economic development of China and others in Asia is pushing the centre of gravity of world energy consumption further eastward.

In the next 20 years, China and India combined will account for 94% of net demand growth in oil and 30% in natural gas.

Asia will be driving two-thirds of world oil demand.

This emerging shift is calling for solutions from both China and North America.

While striving to achieve energy independence on the one hand, China still needs to jump onto opportunities arising from this historic change so as to diversify its ever-expanding overseas energy supply.

Meanwhile, North America is keen to turn the huge energy reserves into profits through wooing more global buyers and capital.

Although parted by the seas, it's only natural for China and North America to join hands in today's world of increased interdependence.

And the result of this trans-pacific cooperation should be nothing but win-win for both sides.

More importantly, our cooperation in the new global energy landscape should make greater contributions to the stability of global energy market and the deadly needed recovery of world economy.

Ladies and gentlemen,

While the new trends in the world energy industry have linked China and North America together, strong complementarities between our two sides are the real drivers.

The deepening of China's ongoing reform and it's development will open up huge space for our energy cooperation.

The just concluded third session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China unveiled a new blueprint of "China's Reform Version 2.0".

A series of positive signals are sent out, which will not only serve as an indicator of China's future development, but also bring good news to China-North America energy cooperation.

The first signal is the market-oriented reform.

We believe that a proper relationship between the market and government remains the core of China's economic reform.

In the past, market was defined as a basic role in China's economic growth, and this time it has been made very clear that market should play a decisive role in allocating resources.

China is keen to build a fairer and more competitive market economy.

The second signal is urbanization. China will continue its policy of urbanization, further breaking the urban-rural barrier and narrowing the gap in development.

The urbanization rate in china has just exceeded 50%.

Statistics show that every 1% increase in China's urbanization rate will translate into over 10 million rural people moving to urban areas, releasing huge demand for energy consumption.

Urbanization is not only a major engine of China's economic growth, but also represents business opportunities for the rest of the world, including, of course, North America.

The third signal is eco-friendly development.

By building a "beautiful China", we are endeavoring to build a modern energy sector that is secure, stable, economical and clean.

The key is the transformation of energy production and utilization modes.

It is estimated that during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, China's green investment will reach 1.3 trillion US dollars, possibly the world's largest.

Again this is the area where the green industry and related technologies in North America have unique competitive advantages.

The fourth signal is further opening-up.

It is estimated that by 2015 China's dependence on oil and gas will reach 61% and 35% respectively.

China's energy market will only become more and more open to the rest of the world as we move on.

At the same time, the energy market in North America is strongly attractive to companies in China.

you have abundant oil and gas resources as well as advanced technologies.

I am convinced that, the above mentioned three factors, namely the new global trend in energy industry, the dynamics of China's reform and development, and the North American energy market, will work perfectly toward China-North America energy cooperation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

During Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to China in February last year, our two leaderships reached a strategic consensus on building a long-term, stable and win-win partnership in the energy and resource sector.

With the joint efforts by our two, We have seen governments and business communities, encouraging progress in our cooperation, which has become the highlight as well as the new engine of the bilateral economic and trade relationship.

By the end of 2012, Chinese investment in Canada's oil and gas sector reached 30 billion USD.

Through their localization strategy, the Chinese enterprises have contributed to the local job market.

They are also involved in technological cooperation in Canada.

Chinese enterprises have also been earnestly fulfilling their social responsibilities, protecting the environment and help building the local communities.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In today's world of economic uncertainty, both China and North America are seeking opportunities, and we are the opportunities for each other.

In my opinion, the potential for our cooperation is as huge as the market in China and the gas and oil reserves on this continent.

To further develop our cooperation, here I like share with you some of my thoughts:

Firstly, we need to enhance mutual political trust and abandon ideological bias.

China is dedicated to building a new model of major-country relationship with the United States, as well as deepening the Strategic Partnership of all round cooperation with Canada, both of which have to be based on mutual trust.

This should also apply to the energy cooperation, which is an important part to these relationships.

China has established a series of dialogue and cooperation mechanisms with both the US and Canada in the energy area.

We should make full use of these channels to effectively communicate with each other on energy policies and strategic intentions, and jointly draw a roadmap for future cooperation.

Secondly, we need to expand energy trade.

The debate on oil and gas exports is still going on in the States, yet many would agree that energy export is inevitable and serves the interests of the US.

And here in Canada while federal and provincial officials are enthusiastic about doing business with Asia and China in particular, LNG trade between China and Canada has not yet materialized, and the oil export from Canada to China for the whole year last year was only equivalent to the amount from Saudi Arabia for 4 days.

In 2012, China imported 284 million tonnes of oil, making it the second largest importer in the world.

And now here is my question for you, how much a share does North America want to have in this huge market?

Thirdly, we need to develop a comprehensive and integrated pattern of energy cooperation.

The strength of North American energy industry lies not only in what you dig up from the ground, but also in your advanced technologies, internationalized vision and management.

By the same token, China's competence is not just limited to capital and market. We also have our own edge in cost-control and technologies.

Our energy cooperation could go well beyond trade. What about areas of refining, storage, transport, distribution as well as technology and human resource training.

Besides, we can also join hands in exploring the market of a third country with combined strengths. Actually, the Chinese companies already have some projects with companies of the U.S. in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

Fourthly, we need to offer each other better market access.

In the past few years, Chinese companies did score a few points on the Canadian energy market.

They are here because of the open and welcoming investment environment.

But is the market in North America perfect for foreign investors?

Some Chinese business people in Canada complained to me recently about the difficulties and challenges they encountered, such as the somewhat ill-informed public opinions towards state-owned enterprises, more tedious and rigid investment reviews, restrictions on the entry of skilled workers and so on so forth.

Chinese investors need to be convinced that they can enjoy a fair and friendly market as well as a good prospect to be profitable.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

Let me finish by sharing with you this great line from a Canadian hockey player Wayne Gretzky, you miss one hundred percent of the shots you never take.

Thank you all.