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The head of a Canadian think-tank yesterday (November 30, Ottawa time) stressed the need to have a "national conversation on Asia" and encouraged Canada's business community to "think Hong Kong rather than Panama" in his speech on Parliament Hill.
President and CEO of the Vancouver-based Asia Pacific Foundation (APF) of Canada, Mr Woo Yuen-pau, told a parliamentary breakfast meeting in Ottawa: "We are now talking the re-emergence of the re-emergence of Asia". He pointed out that a secular trend "is evident", with East Asia's current gross domestic product 2.5 times larger than it was in 1985.
Mr Woo said a recent APF Survey of Canadian Business in China showed 20% of companies reporting more than half of their global revenues coming from China. He said Canada should now focus on China and India, as well as Japan, Korea and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries.
The breakfast meeting was organised by the Ottawa Section of the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association and supported by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Toronto. APF is an independent, not-for-profit think-tank on Canada's relations with Asia.
"Canada has been a Pacific country since the completion of the Canadian Pacific railway, but Canadians are still reluctant to embrace that reality," Mr Woo said. He said there is "an urgent need for a national conversation" on how Canada should respond to the rise of Asia and what it means for Canada to be an Asia Pacific country.
The "National Conversation on Asia" being launched by APF is a three-year project that will bring together Canadian leaders from all sectors for actions to help Canadians understand the importance of Asia in the world and accept the need to have deeper economic links with the region.
"The Asia Pacific gateway is not just about improving transportation flows between North America and Asia," he said. "It is also about building the soft gateway infrastructure -- business services, networks and ideas -- that is needed for long-term wealth creation. In the long run, the importance of the gateway is not in what flows through it, but it is in what happens around it," Mr Woo said.
"Think Hong Kong rather than Panama," he told the 140 Canadian politicians and business leaders at the meeting. He said Canada should make full use of its "longest, deepest and most profound" people-to-people ties with Asia. "Hong Kong is Asia's most Canadian city, and Vancouver is the most Asian city outside of Asia," he added.
The Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Toronto, Ms Maureen Siu, said at the meeting that both Canada and Hong Kong have sailed through the financial crisis relatively well. "We have both rebounded," she said. "Canada's banking system is ranked the world's soundest for the third straight year by the World Economic Forum. Hong Kong's banking system is also healthy and sound."
In its latest report, the International Monetary Fund sees the Hong Kong economy returning to a robust growth trajectory, and projects that its economy will expand by 6.75% this year before moderating to 5.5% in 2011.
"Increasingly, more and more of our trade now is intra-regional trade within Asia, the economic centre of gravity nowadays," she said. "Our close economic co-operation with Mainland China has certainly helped us. We have a lot of Mainland companies in Hong Kong looking for investment opportunities." In 2009, US$3.3 billion worth of trade between Canada and the Mainland was routed through Hong Kong.
"With over 220,000 people holding Canadian citizenship in Hong Kong, and over 100 Canadian firms operating there, Hong Kong has an important role to play for Canadian businesses not only for the Mainland market, but also for many other neighbouring Asian markets," said Ms Siu.
Ends/Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Issued at HKT 17:21
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