Prime Minister Stephen Harper leaves Sunday for a six-day swing through Latin America

Harper embarks on six-day swing through Latin America

Prime Minister Stephen Harper leaves Sunday for a six-day swing through Latin America. His first stop is Brazil, which is now the world's seventh-largest economy.

The trip gives the prime minister a chance to meet with foreign leaders and cement ties with Latin America and the Caribbean.

An April 2009 diplomatic cable from the U.S. embassy in Ottawa and published by WikiLeaks gives some insight into Harper's thought process on boosting ties within the Americas.

A chat with former Australian Prime Minister John Howard got Harper thinking that bolstering relations with other countries in the region would give Canada more sway with the U.S.

"Harper had long been favourably impressed by Australia's ability to exert outsized influence with the U.S. in particular -- and other powers as well -- by emphasizing its relations in its own neighbourhood," the cable says, referring to a conversation with a senior Foreign Affairs official.

"PM Harper hoped to gain similar benefits for Canada by increased attention to Latin America and the Caribbean."

Harper's first stop is Brazil, the world's seventh largest economy and Canada's tenth largest trading partner.

Canada's business relationship with Brazil is already strong, with about 400 Canadian companies operating in Brazil and a total of $2.6 billion in exports of Canadian merchandise in 2010.

Last year, the two countries agreed to co-operate on science, technology and innovation in a two-year deal worth $1.5 million.

However, Canada and Brazil do not have a free-trade agreement because of ongoing disputes over agriculture and aerospace during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Harper then heads to Colombia on Aug. 10 where a free-trade deal signed a few years ago comes into affect just days after Harper's visit.

The deal was made in November 2008 amid opposition from the New Democrats over Colombia's dubious human-rights record.

"‘It was a painful but deliberate choice for the prime minister,'" another senior Foreign Affairs official told the U.S. embassy, according to the WikiLeaks document.

Two-way trade between Canada and Colombia was nearly $1.4 billion last year and Canada's merchandise exports to Colombia were worth about $644 million and imports totaled $717 million.

From there Harper will make stops in Costa Rica and Honduras, where the Prime Minister's Office says he hopes to make headway on a new free-trade deal.

For a decade the Canadian government has been in talks with Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Officials from Canada and Honduras held trade talks in Ottawa in December and again in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa in February.

Canada has had a deal in place with Costa Rica since 2002 and the country is Canada's largest trading partner in Central America.