Right: Peter Van Loan speaking at 91亚色

Van Loan talked about 鈥淐anadian Opportunities in Asia-Pacific鈥� at the event, which was co-hosted by and 91亚色鈥檚 Office of the Associate Vice-President International.

"Minister Van Loan delivered a very encouraging message on how much Canada is doing to promote free and open trade, and the importance we are once again attaching to the Asia-Pacific region,"聽 said Lorna Wright, 91亚色鈥檚 associate vice-president international.聽 "The panelists were able to offer the seminar participants advice from their own experiences of operating successfully in Asia-Pacific.

"One striking piece of information that many may not have thought about was given by Jill Anderson, president and CEO聽of Aecometric Corporation, a leading company in industrial combustion equipment," noted Wright. "She said that China is now a great starting point for moving into African and Middle Eastern markets.鈥�

Left: President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri (left), Peter Van Loan and Dezs枚 Horv谩th, dean of the Schulich School of Business

Workshops such as these help Canada prepare for the November meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)聽group聽in Yokohama, Japan, said Van Loan. 鈥淎PEC meetings aim to strengthen trade and investment cooperation in the region. We have strong ties across the Pacific, and we want to increase opportunities for Canadian businesses in this highly dynamic region.鈥�

The successful event was part of 91亚色鈥檚 continuing initiative to boost internationalization and awareness of international opportunities in business as well as research.

鈥淥ur University has built a strong reputation, both here and abroad, for the quality of our academic programs, for the calibre of our graduating students and for our outreach to and research partnerships with the business community,鈥� said聽 91亚色 President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. "This success is evident with聽our more than 240,000 alumni worldwide, many located in the APEC region, who are making significant contributions in this increasingly interconnected world.鈥�

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

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Here's an excerpt:

As Canadians cheer on our athletes in their quest for gold at the Winter Olympics, little focus is being given to an arena where Canadian competitors are falling behind: the global competition for markets, investment opportunities, knowledge industries and job-creating business expansion.

...

Whatever the argument, it boils down to saying: We are too small to go global. This thinking is not going to win us any gold medals in the economic Olympics. In fact, it's a disqualifier to start with. To stop us sliding on a downward trajectory, we need to put our thought-process into reverse: We are too small not to go global.

In Canada, we have traditionally focused our policy objectives on aiding large multinationals or entrepreneurial start-ups. But it is Canada's small- to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that hold the key to our future economic prosperity. We need to breed our own world-beaters 鈥� dynamic companies with unique value propositions or cutting-edge technology that grow by selling in foreign markets and by acquiring foreign assets. Our national strategy should be to identify and nurture such companies.

...

The multicultural background and global diversity of much of our SME sector provides Canada with a built-in competitive advantage, if only we make strategic use of it. We now have a rapidly growing segment of entrepreneurs with a truly global perspective, mindset and motivation. This group should be the target for new public policy initiatives from governments, financial support from banks and innovative training from our world-class business schools. Our national growth strategy needs to place emphasis not only on promoting new start-ups and aiding large companies. Instead, it should increasingly shift its focus to the thousands of small- to-medium-sized firms in cities from Kanata to Kelowna. They will be the drivers of Canada's competitiveness in the years ahead, the companies going for gold in the economic Olympics.

To read , visit the.

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