April 11, 2010 – Beijing

It is early Sunday morning in Beijing, early Saturday evening back home in Ottawa, and I am having one of those goose bump moments that are rare in the world of economic development. In my business, it is seldom that you are able to see immediate cause and effect to your actions. Our job is to develop strategies and tactics that often take years to pay off and particularly in today’s world of global supply chains and global competitiveness. But as I sit here this Sunday morning, watching Phil Mickelson make his charge for the lead in the third round of the 2010 Masters (remember the 12 hour time difference), I am feeling that years of hard work are paying off.

In September of 2006, OCRI launched its China program with a trip to Shenzhen, Xiamen, Shanghai and Beijing. OCRI had focussed programs in the United States and Europe. It was increasingly evident that the world was changing and any true global strategy would have to address the increasing influence of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies. Our analysis showed clearly that China was likely to be our strategic third option (after our domestic and the US markets) but that Ottawa was like a grain of sand on the beach of China’s economic awakening.

How do you start? We had been warned that it would be a long journey. We were looking at a country with well over a billion people. It was half way around the world and 12 time zones away. Few of our companies had been successful there. Many of our companies looked at the challenges of culture and IP enforcement and said that it wasn’t worth the battle. This wasn’t the United States - an excellent product with a solid value proposition would not get you in the game. This was a land of relationships.

And the journey did prove long, we are now 3 ½ years later and I am making my eighth visit. Relationship building takes commitment and time. It is the first visit for our new CEO Claude Haw. The staff that we dealt with at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing have completely turned over. One of our earliest friends at the Z-Park in Beijing, Dr. Xia, retired this winter and it is our first meeting with his replacement Zhou Yunfan.  Three years ago, Mayor Larry O’Brien, accompanying us on this trip, was still a businessman in a seemingly impossible campaign for Mayor. China was a place on the map, for the companies with us, not yet considered a strategic market. Accredited Destination Status looked like a distant dream putting our tourism sector at a distinct disadvantage. My China Project Manager, Sophie Chen was just getting married, never mind preparing to return after maternity leave. Joan Sun, doing a tremendous job of replacing Sophie during her maternity leave, was still busy raising her daughter with only vague ideas of setting up her Canada China consulting company.

So why the goose bumps this morning? Our early research proved that we needed a competitive advantage and an entry point. Consequently, our emphasis on ICT and Ottawa’s emerging cleantech sector. Ottawa had a Sister City agreement signed in 1999 with Beijing making Beijing our obvious city of concentration.

What has been achieved in the last three days? Our Mayors have recommitted to the agreement signed in 1999, moving our cities to a new level of cooperation. Our Mayor met with members of the team of artisans that will travel to Ottawa next week to begin construction of the Chinese Arch that will be placed at the entrance to Ottawa’s Chinatown. It has been presented to Ottawa and Canada by Beijing and China to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the modern Canada China diplomatic relationship. Our tourism organization signed an agreement with their sister organization here linking the UNESCO World Heritage sites of the Great Wall and the Rideau Canal. OCRI signed an MOU with the Beijing Investment and Promotion Bureau to increase cooperation in investment between the two cities.

Our Mayor loves to show off Ottawa, a global example of a sustainable city. My count is that we have commitments of at least five organizations from Beijing to visit Ottawa this year to continue our discussions on building green cities, cross investment between our companies and encouraging science and technology cooperation. Not that I needed more work, but in a virtual world, it is still person to person contact that cements a relationship and moves it forward.

Mayor O’Brien is also a successful technology entrepreneur and that agenda was moved forward. Two of our cleantech companies significantly moved their Beijing agendas forward, Plasco and Clearford. Wesley Clover, a company owned by Ottawa’s most successful ICT entrepreneur, Terry Matthews, used the opportunity to build its network in Beijing and move forward its investment plans in China. Ottawa companies are being successful in China.

As a bonus, I received an invitation to the official opening of Huawei’s Ottawa R&D Centre on the same day that Huawei was presenting to a seminar in Beijing on the advantages of doing R&D in Ottawa and Canada. Chinese companies are discovering Ottawa.

I had a premonition that this trip would bring it all together for our China strategy when I was able to upgrade to Business Class on my entire Air Canada flight from Ottawa to Beijing, a rare event as any frequent flier knows. But I never dreamed that I would see a three and a half year journey, involving so many people, working against incredible odds, come together to produce the results of the last few days. It is a great feeling, even if I am half way around the world from home. Now Claude and Mayor O’Brien will probably expect an encore!

By Mayor Larry O’Brien

On April 6th, I embarked on a 10-day economic development mission to the Chinese cities of Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The mission, coordinated by OCRI, aims to strengthen existing relationships between our cities and to further establish Ottawa as one of China’s strategic partners.

Friday evening marked the conclusion of our delegation’s visit to the City of Beijing. We spent two short but jam-packed days in back-to-back meetings with government officials and professionals from a number of hi tech industries.

As Mayor of the City of Ottawa, my first and most important responsibility is to ensure the safety and security of the City’s residents, which means ensuring access to clean drinking water, waste management, fire and police services. But I also recognize the role of the City in ensuring the prosperity of our citizens, which means creating the kind of environment in which our citizens and companies can prosper. With that focus in mind, I am pleased to report that our mission to Beijing to promote investment and partnership opportunities was extremely successful.

On Thursday of last week I announced that Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong and I had signed a Memorandum of Understanding re-committing to the principles of our original 1999 sister-city agreement.  That was just the beginning of a waterfall of successes stemming from this mission.  OCRI has now signed a new agreement with the Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau, and the Ottawa companies who are participating in this mission have had a number of successful meetings with potential customers, investors and partners. I was very pleased to see Tourism Ottawa sign a collaboration agreement with Badaling Special Zone Administration, the managers of the Great Wall of China.

The goal of our visit to Beijing was to promote partnerships in the areas of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Cleantech. For that reason, we were delighted to hear about Beijing’s commitment to building a world-class environmentally sustainable city when we visited the Beijing Urban Planning Exhibition. We met with the Beijing Energy-Saving and Environmental Protection Center where we were introduced to their impressive plans and programs for meeting the goals of the city.  During that meeting, we received confirmation that a delegation from Beijing will be traveling to Ottawa to meet with a broad range of our Cleantech companies.  This is important given the ongoing negotiations between the City of Beijing and Plasco regarding the  implementation of a waste-to-electricity facility in Beijing based on the leading-edge solution which has been developed and demonstrated in Ottawa.

Our delegation also had the privilege of attending and participating in the ICT and Cleantech Cross-Investment Seminar at Z-Park which included presentations by Canadian investment groups like Wesley Clover and Cleantech Capital. It was there that we learned of Huawei’s plans to significantly increase the number of people in their Ottawa R&D centre.

While the focus of our mission is clearly business development, it was a pleasure last evening to be hosted by Mayor Guo at a banquet where we were able to talk frankly about the role of Mayors in our two cultures and the tremendous opportunities of our bilateral relationship. As we begin to emerge from the global economic recession and move forward in a new economy, China has emerged as the key global market- 1.3 billion people, an impressive education system and strong economic growth.  Business partnerships with China will continue to become a more integral part of our economic progress both here in Ottawa and across the country.

My hope is that this mission will continue to provide opportunities to strengthen relationships, and that by working together we can further grow the prosperity of the people of both Ottawa and Beijing.

-30-

April 7, 2010

It’s early morning and the delegation gathers in the hotel lobby ready to start the real work. I would say bright eyed and bushy tailed, but the long flight and the 12 hour time difference has most of us moving a bit slowly. We start the day with the team split into two groups. The Mayor will go to the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall to learn about the history of Beijing and to prepare him for meetings with various Beijing city organizations and his visit with Mayor Guo, while the companies travelling with the Mayor head to the Canadian Embassy in Beijing.

Mayor of Ottawa, Larry O'Brien presents gift to Mayor Guo of Beijing

At the Embassy, we are met by Majid Dellah who has been the Embassy lead for the planning of our mission. Inside the Embassy, we are met by several Trade Commissioners (TC) at the Embassy. They represent ICT, cleantech, tourism and investment across China, essentially the entire Beijing TC team is there.

We are fortunate to be visiting literally weeks after the latest Party Congress. China has re-affirmed its commitment, and budget allocation, to our key sectors of ICT and the green economy. Prime Minister Harper’s recent visit not only confirmed Canada’s support to the growing Sino Canadian trade and investment relationship, but also moved Canada closer to Approved Destination Status, a key element to Ottawa’s tourism strategy. Our Mayor’s visit to Beijing adds weight to the growing relationships being developed between Ottawa and Beijing under the Ottawa-Beijing sister city relationship, signed in 1999.

It was planned that each company would give a short outline of their company, their objectives from this visit and their long term strategy in China. The TC’s would then explain individual sector opportunities. But the discussions begin almost immediately. So much for a planned and orderly introduction process!  The companies are anxious to get talking and the Trade Commissioners have been pumped by Majid that OCRI has prepared them well and they are here to succeed. About an hour and a half was allocated to this process, but the talk just seems to have started when we are joined by the Mayor’s group and our Ambassador to China, David Mulroney.

Noel Buckley, Ottawa Tourism, Mayor of Ottawa Larry O'Brien and Ambassador to China David Mulroney in discussion at Canadian Embassy in Beijing

Ambassador Mulroney confirms the enthusiasm of his staff about the future of the Canada China trade investment, tourism and science and technology relationships. The city-to-city relationship established between Ottawa and Beijing, and the backing of that relationship evident by this visit by Mayor O’Brien, are the tactics needed to implement a strong China strategy.

We get an extra treat from the Ambassador. The Embassy has been working on a new program to promote China opportunities to be launched next week in a cross-Canada speaking tour. We are the beta audience and some of the stats seem incredible. China today consumes 70% of the world’s iron ore production. Of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries, China is the clear winner as we emerge from the global financial crisis. With our abundant natural resources, good governance and a sound financial system, Canada is one of the three countries topping China’s areas of interest. The Ottawa China strategy fits well into Ambassador Mulroney’s eight rules for success with its emphasis on high level commitment, partnership, an understanding of China, while coming at the relationship with a Canadian perspective. This builds on the support of his staff in pushing our mission, promoting cross investment in our companies and leveraging our technology leadership and innovation.

A casual lunch with the Ambassador and our Trade Commissioner hosts helps our companies better understand the opportunity and how they can be successful. We are a bit jet lagged, but pumped as we begin our meetings with Chinese organizations and companies.

Rod Bryden, President of Plasco presents Sens Jersey to Mayor Guo of Beijing

Day 1: Tuesday, April 6th -

Ottawa Hello from 36,000 feet over the Canadian Rockies!

We were up bright and early before dawn and arrived at the airport just at daybreak, weather looking good for a flight to the other side of the world. It’s very exciting to be going to China, if only we had the Enterprise transporter working by now. Five plus hours to Vancouver, three hour wait and then another 11 hours to Beijing is the pain before the gain on a typical trade and investment mission. This brings back memories of long flights to distant lands to meet important customers back in the heady days of the telecom boom during the 90s.

Waiting at the airport on my just in time arrival (I don’t like to spend extra time at airports), is our mission team including the Mayor of Ottawa and his advisor. At the request of OCRI, Mayor Larry O’Brien has agreed to lead a trade and investment mission to four cities in China over the next 10 days. Travelling to Asia is old-hat for the Mayor, having visited many times in his business persona, but this is his first time to China as the Mayor of the capital city of a G8 country.

So far, we have been treated very well by the Chinese with letters of invitation, visas and itineraries produced efficiently and as requested. Thankfully, we have the tireless Joan Sun as our coordinator for the mission. She not only took care of many of the protocol and logistics items but was willing and able to call Beijing at all times of the day and night to get everything ready for our trip.

The trade and investment mission includes: Mayor Larry O’Brien and Robert Thompson, the mayor’s advisor; OCRI; Ottawa Tourism; and eleven companies from the investment, Cleantech and ICT sectors. Representing OCRI is Mike Darch, Executive Director, Global Marketing, OCRI who is on his fifth mission to China over the past five years; Joan Sun, OCRI China Program Manager; and myself, Claude Haw, President and CEO, OCRI on my first trade mission since joining OCRI last year. Representing Ottawa Tourism is Noel Buckley, President, a frequent traveler to Asia and other areas of the world whose tourism perspective is very valuable.

While in China we hope to secure a number of new agreements and reaffirm others including the Sister City Cooperation agreement between Ottawa and Beijing. We will be meeting with groups of investors looking for bilateral investment opportunities, municipal officials considering alternatives for water, energy and waste infrastructure projects and companies looking for the latest innovation in information and communications technologies.

This is the first of many blogs from the mission to China.  Look for insight from a number of participants on the trip. Everyone will have their own stories to tell!

Day 2: Wednesday, April 7th – Beijing

Nihao from Beijing (and that covers the full range of my Mandarin vocabulary). Air Canada treated us very well over the 20 hours between arriving at the Ottawa airport, transiting through Vancouver and finally landing in Beijing. Leaving early morning from Ottawa was easy enough and the planes for both legs were not completely full. Travelling in economy was quite comfortable when the seat beside was available to spread out papers and such.

It seemed strange to leave Ottawa in sunny early morning, travel almost around the clock in sunlight to arrive in Beijing mid-afternoon of the next day. We were well received in China with the coordinator from the Beijing Foreign Office  coming to the airport to meet us. After traveling nearly 12,000 km, this was a wonderful personal touch.

First impressions of Beijing from a sleep-deprived state of mind was …. well a fog actually, not the crystal clear air of the Rockies at least. The route from the airport downtown was very much that of a modern city with many tall buildings, both commercial office towers and residential, a few older apartment buildings and much more English writing on buildings than I expected. Mid-afternoon traffic from the airport to our hotel in central Beijing was moderate to heavy but moved well. There were bicycles and motorbikes on the road but not a huge number. The block around the hotel holds dealerships for Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin, shops for Gucci, etc. and even a Starbucks.

People at the airport, on roads, streets and hotel seem courteous and friendly. The Regent Hotel people were very helpful and fast on check-in. There was whole contingent at the door to welcome the Mayor including the hotel manager. Our home for the next five days and four nights looks to be excellent.

Lucky for us the itinerary for our first short day was to get settled in our hotel, get a briefing from the Vice Counsel from the Canadian Embassy in Beijing followed by a light dinner and then off to bed to attempt to synchronize our body clock with the local time. Asking my body to stay awake for more than 24 hours was so much easier a couple of decades ago – oh to be 30 again!

More to come after a very full day tomorrow….