Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday that Canada must expand its economic horizons and look eastward for new opportunities as traditional Western trading partners see their economic clout dwindle.
Harper made the comments in Seoul, South Korea on Monday as he wrapped up his tour of Asia.
He also officially announced that Canada will co-host the G20 summit in Toronto next June, along with South Korea.
Harper said that while the U.S. and Europe struggle to recover from the global recession and are expected to face a period of continued slow growth, Asia is becoming the world's new economic engine.
"We have every reason to believe that the markets in the United States and Europe ... will probably experience continued slower growth for some time to come," Harper said.
"So the great opportunity is obviously in the Asia-Pacific region."
Unlike his visit to China earlier in the tour, Harper made no major breakthroughs with the South Koreans during his one-day visit.
He did, however, address the national assembly -- becoming the first Canadian prime minister to do so.
However, only about two-thirds of the members showed up for the speech.
During the talk he focused on historic ties between Canada and North Korea and suggested Canada has a "privileged" relationship with the region. He also said Canada has the natural resources that Asia needs to fuel its economic surge -- something most other Western nations lack.
Both Harper and Korea's President Lee Myung-bak promised to strengthen their efforts to reach a comprehensive trade agreement -- an elusive goal in recent years.
They also promised to work on removing a South Korean ban on Canadian beef that has been in place for six years.
Harper said the two countries could become a model to the world of successful and mutually beneficial East-West economic relations.
Elliot Tepper, a professor at Carleton University, said Canada and South Korea are in a unique position due to the fact they will co-host G20 meeting next year.
"Those two meetings are going to help shape the global economic governance for the foreseeable future so Canada has become a key economic player and Asia is a key part of that," Tepper told CTV's Canada AM.
While in South Korea, Harper visited the 248 kilometre-long piece of land known as the demilitarized zone along the border with North Korea, which was established when the two sides declared a truce at the end of the Korean War.
Harper entered the DMZ flanked by government officials and a number of soldiers, and visited the blue soldier barracks known as Conference Row.
While inside the barracks, the prime minister technically stepped into Communist North Korea, while two North Korean soldiers looked on through a window.
Earlier in the day, Harper paid tribute to the 27,000 Canadians who served in Korea, and the 516 who died there.
He also laid a wreath at the grave of an Ontario veterinarian who went to Korea in 1916 as a Presbyterian missionary.
