BRIEFING – Canadian Consulate of Hong Kong

Hong Kong SAR — (August 2nd, 2013), Global Vision

Junior Team Canada attended a sector briefing at the Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong on Friday, hosted by Mr. Ian Burchett, Consul General of Canada to Hong Kong; Ms. Kendal Hembroff, Senior Trade Commissioner; Mr. Jean-Christian Brillant, Consul for Foreign Policy and Diplomacy; and several Trade Commissioners from the Clean-tech, Life-sciences, Agriculture, and financial sectors.

Mr. Burchett stressed the importance of building meaningful relationships when doing business in Hong Kong, where a personal relationship through several points of interaction should precede a commercial relationship. He emphasized the need for Junior Team Canada to ensure follow up and further development of the local relationships we initiate for our mission partners in Hong Kong.

Following a trade and policy briefing by Ms. Hembroff and Mr. Brillant, the Ambassadors split up into groups for individual sector briefings with Trade Commissioners on the topics of Clean-tech, Life-sciences, Agriculture, and investment attraction. Through their discussions the Ambassadors initiated key connections related to their sector responsibilities, and began the process of booking meetings with local companies and organizations with the assistance of the Canadian Trade Commission.

“I learned that you need to take a very different approach when doing business here”, says Rafael Pozuelo-Perron, one of Quebec City’s four Junior Team Canada Ambassadors on this mission. “It’s not just a two step process of ‘come-and-go’ like in Canada, you really need to put in a lot of effort in developing a sincere relationship.” Working with his partnersCanmec Group, a Saguenay engineering firm; and Bilodeau, a Canadian fur trade and taxidermy company, Rafael plans help them develop a better understanding of how business works in Hong Kong and assist them in realize their long-term business objectives in Asia.