Rideau Hall, Sunday, September 21, 2014

It gives me and my wife, Sharon, great pleasure to welcome you to Rideau Hall. Your visit here—like our own visit to Korea last year—underscores the important relationship between our countries. It is wonderful to see familiar faces here with us today.

I should say, Madam President, that we have the warmest of memories of our visit with you. In particular, I was so struck by the fact that, on your installation day—when your mind was overflowing with so many ceremonial requirements and demands of office—you made us feel that we were the most welcome people in the world.

We are delighted to be able to reciprocate the warm hospitality you showed us, and to invite you to see and experience as much of Canada as you can. I think you will find Canadians to be willing and eager to share their knowledge and expertise.

I hope that you will also take the opportunity to discover new ways in which we can further our collaboration. When we were in Korea, I marvelled at the variety of areas in which our peoples now work together for the benefit of both our nations.

That determination, on both the Canadian and Korean sides, inspires me. It is our people-to-people ties, in fact, that have led to more than 60 years of friendship and prosperity.

And there is still so much more we can do together in terms of trade, innovation, education and more.

Let me finish by greeting you in much the same way you greeted me in Korea: with excitement and eagerness. I look forward to speaking with you, to reminiscing about our Korean experiences, and to learning how we can help each other to further succeed.

Welcome to Canada!