David Lee Emerson
Minister of International Trade for the Pacific Gateway
Member Economy: Canada David Lee Emerson, PC, Ph.D, MA, MP (born September 17, 1945, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian politician, who was previously a businessman and a civil servant. Emerson is Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics in the Canadian Cabinet.

On November 14, 2006, the Canadian student delegation had the opportunity to participate in a round table forum with leading CEOs of Canadian companies, ABAC members, and Canada’s Minister of International Trade, David Emerson. Some of the participates of the round table included: Gordon Chu, Andrina Lever, Graham Potter, Jonathan Wright, Bill Johnston, Matthew Ferguson, Steve Cresswell and Eric Fraser. The discussions focused on how can Canada improve foreign policy for Canadian investors coming to the APEC nation of Vietnam.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how Canada can improve foreign policy for Canadian business and investors in the Vietnam economy. Mr. Emerson, a man of great insight, addressed each issue brought up during the forum. Some of the topics of concerned were financial support, promoting education, corruption, transparency in government and the issue of branding Canada on the world stage.
In regards to financial support, he agreed that Canada needed to be more proactive in sustaining foreign direct investment. Gordon Chu, an ABAC member stated that in order for Vietnam to survive in the fast-paced economic boom they need to update their infrastructure, in particular their ports.

Another hot topic of the discussion was how Canada can better market itself in this vital economy. Some Canadian stereotypes are the ideals of being nice, hard work ethic and reliability. Mr. Emerson was concerned that Canada’s intellectual capital was not being addressed. He stated that, “Canadian intellectual octane is as high as anywhere else in the world.” He believes that Canada needs to show case we have, which is “The best in the world at what we do.”Conducted by the Canadian team: on November 14th at the Canadian Embassy in Hanoi.

Source for the first picture: http://www.international.gc.ca/canada-magazine/site/images/current/emerson.jpg