2014 Trade Team PEI Market Information Session - Southeast Asia Trade & Investment Overview

Description

Southeast Asia - an Assessment of Opportunities for PEI businesses in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore  

Trade Team PEI is pleased to host a market information session on Southeast Asia.  Dr. David Cook will present the findings of a research project into trade and investment opportunities for PEI firms in the Southeast Asian countries of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore
 
Canada’s Global Commerce Strategy identifies 13 priority markets around the world, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), where economic growth and development is expected to exceed the global average for the next several years. With rich natural resources, low-cost skilled labour, and ASEAN’s Free Trade Agreement, the region’s wealth of markets and opportunities are especially attractive for Canadian direct investment and trade in infrastructure, oil and gas, mining, agri-food, and information and communications technology.

This study provides an evidence-based assessment of trade and investment opportunities for PEI firms in the following four states: Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.  The information includes overviews on each nation's recent economic performance and outlook, key challenges, and trade prospects.  The data includes a review of PEI's export and import trade statistics by major product and industry with each of the four markets.
  
The study provides overviews and identifies potential opportunity areas for PEI's priority sectors of Bioscience, Information and Communications Technology, Aerospace, and Agri-food and Agriculture in these countries.  Other sectoral information relevant to PEI's interests has been identified and included in the study.
 
Following the presentation the Greater Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce will be hosting their Business Builder Luncheon in the Georgian Ball Room with keynote speaker theHonourable Rob Moore, Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency).
 
About Dr. David Cook
 
David’s career includes public, private and academic engagements as a policy analyst, strategic planner, economist, executive manager, trade negotiator, and educator.

He has taught International Economic Relations, the Political Economy of East and Southeast Asia, International Politics, Chinese Foreign Policy, Canadian Studies, Canada-US Relations, and Foreign Policy Decision-making at the University of Alberta and the University of Prince Edward Island. He has conducted business research in the United States, the EU, and emerging markets in Ukraine, Moldova, Lithuania, Kyrgyz Republic, Mexico, Greater China, and Russia. He continues to research and present on contemporary international economic issues, international trade and investment policy, and SME trade development and export marketing.

Following service as Trade Policy Coordinator, Government of Alberta, for the Canada/United States Free Trade Agreement negotiations and the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, he joined the federal public service working on a broad range of regional economic and business development issues in Atlantic Canada. He served in a variety of management capacities, including regional policy, planning and coordination; federal/provincial relations; international trade, immigration, and investment; and operation of the PEI Constitution Office during the Charlottetown Accord National Referendum in 1992.

Graduating from the University of Alberta in 1980, he earned a Ph.D. in International Relations and Comparative Politics. His Ph.D. dissertation explored the domestic sources of influence on foreign economic policy-making in the People’s Republic of China. He received a Bachelor of Arts (1972) and a Master of Arts (1975) from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In 1992, he received a citation from the Governor General of Canada, and was awarded the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation, in recognition of significant contributions to Canada. In 2013, he was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to Canada, one of only 4,000 public officials to receive this honour.

He is a participating member of the Asia-Pacific Roundtable, Institute for Strategic and International Studies in Kuala Lumpur. He co-founded and was President of the Centre for Human Development, based in Chicago, Illinois from 1998-2004. The Centre for Human Development, an IRS registered charitable organisation, was engaged in educational activities designed to pursue alternative solutions to meeting human needs.