 Hello. Hi, everyone. My name is Ben Coliznik. I'm a senior manager in BC's trade policy and negotiations branch with the Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation. And this is my colleague Janet. Hi there. Hope everyone's doing well. I am the senior manager for the global markets team responsible for ASEAN. So both Ben and I are here with the BC trade and industry development division. Good evening and welcome to everyone joining us from BC as well as good morning to those who are joining us from Singapore and Malaysia. Thank you for joining us to have a webinar on doing business in Singapore and Malaysia under the comprehensive and progressive agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership, the CPTPP. Before I want to go, before I go any further, I want to just acknowledge that I'm conducting this webinar from the traditional territories of the Lekwungen speaking peoples known today as the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations. Following some welcoming remarks from a few special guests, you're going to hear from some trade officials and businesses with some experience in the region. Our main objectives are to raise awareness of the CPTPP and the opportunities that it provides in Singapore and Malaysia. Today's session is being recorded and will be shared with registrants in a follow-up email along with presentations that you see today as well as speaker contact information. If you are experiencing technical issues, hopefully that's not the case, but if you are, please just send us a message in the chat to Janet or myself and let us know. And you can use the Q&A function that you see at the bottom of your screen to pose any questions for speakers. You can pose questions at any time throughout the event, but there will also be some time at the end to answer any additional questions. Please be as specific as you can and indicate where possible who you are directing your question to. Now I would like to introduce our first speaker. The Honourable George Chow has elected MLA for Bank of Refraiserview in 2017 and is BC's Minister of State for Trade. We're very happy that he can be with us today. Thank you, Minister, for joining us over to you. Well, thank you Ben and Janet and good evening to those of you joining in British Columbia and good morning to those of you in Singapore and Malaysia. And my name is George Chow and I'm the Minister of State for Trade for British Columbia. I'm pleased to speak to you from my office in Vancouver, my writing a Vancouver Fraserview, and it's situated on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people with whom we share this land and the hospitality. The recent severe weather event have tested all of us in British Columbia and our thoughts are with everyone impacted by the rain and floods in our province. We're doing everything we can to provide support and respond to the situation. Today, I'm here to bring greetings on behalf of our Pimaean, John Horgan, and to extend a special welcome to Council General Samsung of Malaysia in Vancouver. And the province is committed to strengthening our economic ties with Malaysia. Thank you for joining us today, Council General. We were also hoping to have Terence Soutman, the honorary Council General of Singapore in Vancouver to join us today. But he is in Singapore to receive an award from the President of Singapore and therefore not available to join us and congratulations to Terence on that great honour. Thank you also to the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada for co-hosting this virtual event with the Government of British Columbia. It's great to see you all and it's great to see you, Jeff. I know it's been a few months now, but congratulations again on your new role as President of the Foundation. And I look forward to hearing your remarks today and meeting you in person again very soon. It's a pleasure again to be sharing this virtual space with you all and it's nice to know we can still gather to discuss important issues despite the pandemic and the challenges created by the recent unprecedented weather events in British Columbia. The pandemic and the recent severe weather events have also shown us how fragile our supply chains can sometimes be. Our immediate objective are to ensure that BC continues with this economic recovery plan so that we come back stronger than ever. But to succeed long term in today's global economy, we need to be able to adapt to changing market conditions, including disruptions to how we get our goods and services to and from the markets abroad. BC has seen enough market disruptions and trade protectionism in recent years to safely conclude that we need to do all we can to support businesses to navigate these challenges. That's why BC believes that trade diversification is more critical than ever. Businesses that export are more resilient as they have a diversified customer base. That's not as impacted by seasonal or local economic shifts. My mandate as a Minister of State for Trade includes the development and implementation of a new trade diversification strategy to mold BC as a leading supplier of low carbon goods and services. Free trade agreement information sessions like today's webinar are just one small piece of what BC is doing to support a diversification in what we are trading and who we are trading with. BC is Canada's specific province. Our geographic location and strong business and cultural ties across the Pacific position us to benefit from increased trade between Canada and the Pacific Rim markets. I'm very pleased to say that I was there with our federal government and some of our exporter to kick off the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership or CPTPP in BC. And that happened just a few months right after it was implemented rectify in Canada in late 2018. And in May of this year, 2021, I was pleased to be able to speak and an information session focused on business opportunity in Vietnam for British Columbia under the CPTPP. Following the success of that event, we continue with the series event focused on CPTPP markets like today's events on Singapore and Malaysia. Southeast Asia is an area of interest to our province and both Singapore and Malaysia are a dynamic part of the region and increasingly important trade partners for BC. Singapore was the 17th largest and Malaysia 24th largest destination for BC export in 2020. With the CPP in place already for Singapore, and as our economy be covered from the pandemic, we expect to see growth. And although Malaysia has not yet rectified the CPTPP, we want to raise awareness of the opportunity the agreement will provide once that they arrives. BC exporters are already finding success in Singapore for some manufacturer goods, natural resources products, scientific and technical devices, as well as agri foods. And to Malaysia, we're already exporting a variety of metals and minerals, lumber and other force products, agri foods and various industrial machinery, material and parks. The CPTPP offers opportunity for BC businesses across many sectors to enter Singapore or to expand our presence there. It makes BC provider for goods and services more competitive than provider from countries that do not have a trade agreement with Singapore. And the same goes for Malaysia once it rectifies CPTPP. In the meantime, if you're considering Malaysian market, I hope you can use the information from today's session to plan your market entry. Terrific reduction, access to government procurement opportunity, and the integration of BC goods and services into global value chain to which Singapore and Malaysia are connected are just a few benefit of being in the CPTPP. And most importantly, the agreement provides rules for fair and transparent trade. Trade and investment have incredible potential for helping BC diversify and recover economically. This includes creating good paying jobs for indigenous people, women and other groups that have been overly affected by the pandemic in Canada and British Columbia. And why the CPTPP is the focus of today. Let's not forget that Canada and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN recently agreed to start negotiation on a possible free trade agreement. EC will be watching this negotiation closely and conducting stakeholder consultation in the coming month to inform our priority to be communicated to the government of Canada. And we have extensive trade network all over the world, where our trade and investment diversification plan have an important role to play in economic development and recovery. Through all the pandemic, our trade and investment teams have continued to develop opportunity facility virtual business to business meeting and stay connected to key markets in all the markets. Our provincial trade and investment network is global is stretches from BC to Asia, Europe, and the United States. These trade and investment offices provide a range of services for exporters. They engage with existing and potential customers, provide market intelligence, and represent BCX with goods at global meetings and events. Their job is to accelerate opportunity for BC exporters. This has been made more accessible now with Singapore Airlines. We launched a nonstop flights to and from Vancouver for the first time in over 12 years with services four times a week. The service has now extended operation until late March 2022. We will continue to work with Singapore Airlines and hope this will translate into a year round extension that will support the flow of business travel between BC and Southeast Asia. And the air travel will also enhance both trade and investment, including investors such as Temasek and Pachonis. It will also lead to more air transport of BC agri-foods and seafood products such as BC crab beer, apple syrup apples, and oysters to the region, which you will hear more about during today's session. BC currently serves Singapore and Malaysia related businesses through the BC trading investment representative in Singapore. They work closely with our federal counterparts through the trade commissioner service. Representative from our provincial trade team are online here today. And I encourage you to connect with them to discuss the opportunity created by this new agreement. This will ensure you understand the market opportunity created by the CPTPP. In conclusion, I hope you will consider Singapore and Malaysia in your international business plan. And I hope today's webinar will provide the information and inspiration you need to start exploring the opportunity the CPTPP offers. My ministry staff offer many information sessions on how Canada's trade agreement can benefit your business, workers, community, and investors. Please keep your eyes out for upcoming sessions similar to this one. It's a pleasure to be talking to you to be with you virtually. And thank you. Thank you minister. Thank you, Mr Chow. You've been given attendees a lot to consider. We appreciate you taking the time to join us today. Well, thank you for all your hard work. All of the staff in the ministry. Yes. Always. Thank you. And console general. It's a pleasure to see you again. And thank you for taking the time to connect with us. Mr Sham Sui. Nizam Bin Sham Sui Din has been the console general of Malaysia in Vancouver since 2018, responsible for British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. He was appointed to the administrative and diplomatic service public service department and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia in 2003. He also held postings in Laos and Brazil. Later this month he will be traveling again, and one of the first to board the Singapore Airlines direct flight to for Vancouver to Singapore Changi Airport, and that's extremely exciting. Now allow me to hand the stage over to you console general for your greetings. Thank you. Honourable Josh Chow, the minister of state's portrait, speakers, presenters, ladies and gentlemen. A very good evening from me here in Vancouver. And a good morning for Selamat pagi in Malaysia. My name is Sham Sui Nizam Sham Sui Din, console general of Malaysia in Vancouver. Thank you very much once again to the BC government for inviting me to this event. I'm happy to say many of you today and hope that Malaysia will be able to welcome all of you in the near future. Your presence here is a clear indication that overseas expansion remains an important part of your business plans. I hope that this event will foster close collaboration within Malaysia and BC companies and serve as a platform for discussion and exchange of views. Malaysia values Canada as an important trade and investment partner. However, the volume of trade and investment between the two countries is still small and massive potential has yet to be fully tapped. In 2020, Canada was Malaysia's 26 largest trading partner. Total bilateral trade between Malaysia and Canada for the period of January to May 2021 was valued at $910 million, an increase of 56% compared to the corresponding period last year. Malaysia is a rather small country by size and population, but our trade performance ranked us among the most important global players. I would like to take this opportunity to provide assurance that Malaysia will continue to be an open economy with business friendly environment and continue to make Malaysia the preferred investment destination and among the most globally competitive trading nations in the world. Before I end, I would like to take once again, thank you to participants present today for investing your time to attend to this program. I would like to conclude with a popular business code. If you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, we go together. Thank you. Stay safe and stay productive. Thank you very much, Consul General. It is so great to have you here today. Excuse me. I am next would really like to introduce our next speaker, Jeff Namkeville, who is the newly minted president and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation. Prior to this, he had a 33-year career in Canada's foreign service with several postings in Asia, including as Consul General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macau from 2016 to 2021. He worked on programs during that time related to China and Russia, strategic policy, as well as international financial institutions. We are pleased to have him with us today and very thankful that the Foundation has partnered with us to deliver these CPTPP webinars. The virtual floor is yours, Jeff. Thank you very much, Ben. I think we've got some slides that you'll share there. Just let me get positioned here. And Ben, just a warning, I'm going to move you through these, I think, fairly briskly. There's a lot of information, but I hope we'll be able to share the actual slide deck with the participants after the session. But first, let me say Minister Chao, Consul General of Shamsudin, good evening to those of you in the audience who are in British Columbia and North America. Good morning to those on the other side of the Pacific, Salamat Malam, Salamat Pagi. I am just so pleased on behalf of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada to be partnering in this event with the BC government and also with our good friends and partners at Export Development Canada and the Trade Commissioner Service of the Government of Canada. And for Minister Chao, thank you very much for your very kind words and I am really looking forward to catching up soon with you and to doing our work together. We have a great partnership and I'm so pleased it's been three months now since I left the diplomatic service to take on the job of President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation based in Vancouver. And I could not be more excited to be living in Vancouver and to be working with a great team at APF Canada and with just fantastic partners and stakeholders that we work with across Canada and throughout the Asia Pacific. I am still adjusting a little bit to civilian life and Consul General Shamsudin. When people say at the beginning of a webinar that they're going to introduce the Consul General, I almost jumped in there because I'm used to being that person as in my former role until recently as Consul General of Canada in Hong Kong. I am delighted to have someone else as Consul General tonight here in Vancouver and thank you very much to our colleagues from the Government of Malaysia for participating. So Ben, we'll go through some slides here that have been put together by our research team at APF Canada from our vast treasure trove of data. If we can go to the next slide, just to set the stage here for those who haven't been working on Asia, for those of you in the audience who are considering, you know, should I be looking at Asia as a place to expand my business. And I would say it's where the largest share of market opportunities, of growth opportunities in the world will be found over the coming decade. It's already home to more than half of the world's middle class, responsible for more than 40% of global consumption. There's a middle class of consumers in Asia today of more than 1.7 billion people. Let's go to the next slide. This is looking ahead, you can see why there's so much talk these days in Canada about diversifying our trade and exploring opportunities. We have a terrific geographic position for Canada, you know, most countries would be happy to trade places with us being right next to the US. But that is a mature economy whose growth will cannot possibly match the growth that we are going to see in the Asia Pacific region in the coming decade. We'll go to a situation in less than 10 years of more than two thirds of the world's middle class and more than half of global consumption and a middle class of over 3 billion people in Asia. And that's a huge increase, like 1.5 billion new consumers. And these are, you know, consumers as people move up in their family, their household income around the world. We have appetites for new products, new experiences, generally higher quality, healthier products and more interesting experiences at home and in their travel abroad. And this is why Canada is so well situated and particularly British Columbia in the global economy and in the Asia Pacific region. So we see the brand that people in these growing consumer markets think about when they when they think of what kind of goods and services they'd be interested in consuming. Let's go to the next slide. So if we look specifically, you know, we'll be talking a lot tonight about Asia and Association of Southeast Asia nations 10 countries in Southeast Asia. Singapore, as a city state really finds itself as the as the commercial hub for ASEAN and Malaysia is is one of the important economies in the group of 10 and one of the one of the richer economies. If we look at GDP, and you think about Southeast Asia as a region you can see from this slide where Southeast Asia is likely to sit in a few decades from now, compared with markets in the rest of the world and I think that's just the important takeaway, you know, we're we're talking about already more than 650 million people so bigger than the North American market bigger than the European market, and about half the size of the China market. That's what we're talking about when we talk about ASEAN. Let's go to the next slide. So this little graphic this Venn diagram might help our audience to to have a sense of things that we will be talking about in the course of the seminars these regional trade agreements so you have at the at the heart of this Venn diagrams there in purple. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations which has its own regional bodies its own trade and investment arrangements to facilitate having integrated economic markets and regulatory systems across those 10 countries, and as you find yourself in the heart of the Asia Pacific region, and you can see that through the overlapping trade agreements we have so on the right side of the screen, you'll see the circle of the the CPTPP that the minister has already referred to. You can see the ASEAN members who have signed on to CPTPP not not all have ratified yet, but we have four key members of ASEAN who have been part of the CPTPP negotiations. There's in CPTPP along with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and three other countries in the Americas. And so this means we, we have effectively a high quality free trade agreement with the other CPTPP members including Japan, notably, but also Australia and Singapore Vietnam and Malaysia once Malaysia ratifies and also have that status with with Canada. It's very exciting to see also that the government of Canada is embarking on deepening those trade relationships through a couple of announcements that we've seen in the last few months by the Trade Minister, Mary Ying that Canada is has launched discussions on a free trade agreement with ASEAN Canada has also launched discussions on a free trade agreement with Indonesia and we see this as a very firm commitment of the government of Canada to grow those relationships and in practical terms as those negotiations proceed if those agreements are concluded it should provide a big boost to Canadians looking to do business in in the markets of ASEAN and and in Indonesia as a as a country market. Let's go to the next slide. And we'll just see what's happening with Canadian exports on the larger donut we've got there is of the Asia Pacific. And then we have ASEAN within that. We know that Canada's exports to ASEAN between 2010 and 2020 grew by 28%. So almost one third at a time that our overall exports in the world grew by 14%. So the takeaway there is that our exports to ASEAN in the last decade have been growing at twice the exports to the rest of the world and certainly there's every prospect for that trend to continue because the growth in ASEAN is outpacing the growth in markets in the rest of the world. For Singapore Canada's exports have grown by 52% since 2010, although most of that growth came in the in the first half of the decade. Our exports to Malaysia have have grown much, much, much more slowly between 2010 and 2020. And those exports, the number one export in the last decade was potash, followed by wheat and soya and copper. Let's go to the next slide. And for British Columbia, the growth is even more dramatic. The growth in exports to ASEAN in the last decade is 89% while the overall exports of British Columbia grew by just 21%. And again, we see ASEAN as an export market far outpacing the rest of the world for British Columbia, even more than is the case for Canada generally. And in Singapore, the numbers, the volumes have gone up by over 100%, 144% between 2010 and 2020. Although these levels are modest by global standards of Canadian trade. But these are high value products. For example, on close to half of what BC has been exporting to Singapore is motorized armored fighting vehicles, high value exports from British Columbia. Exports to Malaysia from British Columbia have grown quite sharply, but still, you know, quite modest at 87 million. There's a there's a lot of room, potentially for growth there. Let's keep going. Next slide. So the investment from Canada in ASEAN, you know, what's what's behind these numbers is a trend towards fewer but larger investments coming from Canada and our pension fund funds have led the way. So, for instance, Canada pension plan investment board is has been making major investments in renewable energy equipment software and computer services. These things have been on the rise and explain the current trend. The number of deals has, they're not as many deals being done these days, but they're of higher value so the so the annual value has remained constant. Let's go to the next slide. And for, for British Columbia, these investments in ASEAN represent about 7% of British Columbia's total investments in the Asia Pacific in the last 20 years or so. The larger share of BC investment abroad has been in China, including Hong Kong is about 28% of investment in Asia, followed by Australia 26% and then, and then after ASEAN we have Japan and South Korea. Let's keep going. And then I'm going to talk about the specific markets here. These say this is data that you can look at at your leisure later on. And let's, and let's keep going here. And we've just got some more detail on these, on these investments coming from Canada and from BC, and we'll keep going through the slide on Malaysia, Canada investment and BC investment. And so I want to say now a few words about about the opportunities that we see here, and I'll focus on Singapore for the simple reason that that I see the Malaysia market is is well represented and we will be hearing from Trade Commissioner colleague from, it was in Malaysia and I would not presume to speak as an expert on that. When it comes to Singapore I think there's there are a few points to keep in mind that are quite important. You know, you saw the figures about our investments about exports, you know Singapore in itself is not a huge market it's a it's a city about the same population as British Columbia. And what is really important about Singapore is as a regional hub for all those opportunities in Asia and that's why I spent more time on the on the talking about what was happening in Singapore as the regional hub is the place that many businesses coming from outside the region land first in Singapore. They get partners in Singapore and Singapore really excels as a place where deals get put together and because of its geographic location. It offers. When it comes to doing business with China. There is a significant amount of business that is done from Singapore Hong Kong is is an even stronger regional hub for doing business into China. But Singapore, because of its location in Southeast Asia, offers both access to opportunities on in China and East Asia. It's also situated, of course at the at the heart of Southeast Asia and and is also, you know, much closer than Hong Kong to India and South Asia and has the the traditional business ties and cultural connections to South Asia that makes Singapore a really unique place in the in the region. In the past five years, the SEC, the, the sectors receiving the most significant, you know, investment in Singapore are an alternative energy support services and real estate and investment services sectors. What what we hear now in terms of where the great prospects are Singapore is a major financial hub for asset management for the region regional headquarters for many financial institutions for Asia, and Singapore has really, really strong governance very highly respected as a regulator the Singapore monetary authority is a leader in fintech innovation so in in tech for the finance sector Singapore has been very successful in piloting different fintech innovations and the SMA the signature Singapore monetary authority has been a leader globally in initiatives like having a regulatory sandbox where companies and markets can experiment with different fintech innovations before bringing them in, you know, into live markets. And so you have a regulator in Singapore, who is very keen that Singapore get and maintain a leading role as a as a financial hub I can tell you having been recently consul general in Hong Kong, Singapore feels the competition with Hong Kong very keenly and that means for Canadian companies going into the market in Singapore. There is a wide range of very, very enthusiastic and well resourced government services available to support foreign businesses exploring opportunities in Singapore and an interesting aspect of this Singapore has a great investment agency called enterprise Singapore and one of the things that they do is for companies who set up a full office in Singapore. They are then treated as Singapore companies for going out to other places in the region so enterprise Singapore leads these missions to you know Indonesia to Malaysia to China to India and the companies that have a base in Singapore are eligible for that support from enterprise Singapore and I think particularly for you know medium sized companies from British Columbia and smaller companies. This is this is a really, you know, a tremendous value offering by the Singapore government. So when you go it's a very welcoming environment. They are also very keen in Singapore and I'm going to finish on this point that that in the areas around environmental technologies clean tech smart city energy efficiency building management these kinds of technologies. Singapore also has aspirations to be a global leader, as the most advanced jurisdiction in its sub region, and the richest city in its sub region Singapore is is a showcase for people and institutions and firms from other parts of Southeast Asia to come through examples of leading technologies and so the Singapore government is keenly aware of this and that's why they are encouraging and they have all kinds of incentives tax incentives and other forms of support for clean tech companies to come to Singapore to pilot their technologies in local projects in Singapore as a showcase for customers throughout Asia and so that provides an opportunity for Canadian companies with ambitions to market their clean tech solutions throughout Asia. Singapore is one of those places you can go to and sort of put your put your product in the window and it will be seen by others in the region and finally I would note an important function of Singapore for Canadian businesses looking to plug into supply chains for the region and for the world is that Singapore is home to a number of global groups conglomerates in areas like construction and development design architecture, engineering, and so it's the place to go to the headquarters of these global groups who are doing projects they're very very active in China and taking advantage of the of the booming opportunities particularly in southern China and Canadian companies can go to Singapore and get themselves plugged into these global groups that are based in Singapore as as suppliers and and we've seen examples of success in that like you know a Canadian architecture firm that joins a global group that's based in Singapore and wins mandates for high value projects in southern China through through doing that. So that's a lot to digest. I'll be happy later on to to do my best to answer any questions and with that. I'll just do, I'll close on an advertisement for our newsletter twice a week we have bulletins coming out. Thank you Ben Asia watch from Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada twice a week short bulletins with three or four short news items from Asia that we believe have impact and meaning for Canadians particularly Canadians doing business in Asia so I highly recommend to you that you check out our website Asia Pacific.ca and sign on to the Asia watch and new service. Thank you very much for indulging me with your time. Thank you. Thank you, Consulate General. Sorry, I'm saying that again because I'm used to calling you consul general. But thank you, Jeff for your insightful remarks it's great to have you back here in BC, and thank you for joining us today. As for our next speaker we are very fortunate to have Tom join us. Tom joined the Global Affairs Canada in 2008 as a Foreign Service Officer, having practiced as a lawyer in Canada's private sector. He is currently working as the first secretary and commissioner at the High Commission of Canada in Malaysia prior to his arrival here in 2018. Thomas was a member of Canada's negotiation team for the comprehensive and progressive agreements on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the CP TPP. So over to you Tom and for a closer look at the opportunities in Malaysia. Thank you so much, Janet. And hello everybody. Hello, Minister. Hello, Consoles General. Hello, everyone, my colleagues as well. It's really great to see you all. Thank you very much for the opportunity. So here I'm speaking to you from the future. It's the 10th of December at 943 am currently so for me it's the morning it's the evening I think for a lot of the people online, but hopefully I won't put you to sleep. So, yes, as Janet mentioned, I am currently the first secretary and trade commissioner at the High Commission of Canada in Malaysia. I've been posted to Malaysia since 2018 and it's been a bit of a whirlwind experience. My family and I were actually evacuated for six months and then I returned and assume the role of the head of trade for a year, just mainly due to staff and challenges and the general sort of craziness with COVID. So I mean, over this time I'm really happy to say that I've gotten to know Malaysia, the Malaysian people, the country, and it's been a very, very positive experience. So, right off the bat, I'll try not to speak too long and try not to bore everybody too much. But my presentation will essentially go over a little bit about Malaysia and, you know, a breakdown of some of the opportunities by sector here that may be of interest for those people online. So if we go to the next slide please. So you'll see here, what's interesting is that, okay, backing up for a second, I would say if there was one takeaway that you were going to get from my presentation is the fact that there are far more opportunities between Malaysia and Canada, then I think a lot of people realize, and that sort of spans the entire aspect of the relationship so you know from a physical perspective obviously Canada's larger, however we have roughly around the same population. The percentage of SMEs as contributing to our GDP is almost the same. So there, English is a predominant language here in Malaysia as well as in Canada, although it's not the only language. Both countries are multicultural. Both countries have a Commonwealth background both countries follow the common law rule of law. Both countries have. Well, you know, a lot of a lot of things that would be would be complimentary to each other. You know, for example, those students who have traveled from Malaysia to Canada study. When we've spoken to them upon their return. They were amazed at how easy it was for them to sort of to slide into Canadian society and at the welcoming nature and demeanor of Canada. How, how, how many complementary complementarities there were. So it's, it's a country like if I had to sum up the Canada Malaysia relationship I would say it's one that is that has a lot of potential. You know, Canada and Malaysia we've had diplomatic ties for about 65 years now, and we are represented in Malaysia by by our high commission and in in Canada Malaysia is represented by their high commission in Ottawa as well as a trade office in Toronto and a consulate in Vancouver. It is estimated that more than 86,000 Malaysians have studied in Canada since the 1950s. And there are, you know, basically quite a lot of there there is interaction between Malaysia and Canada. So next slide please. So, as I said before, you've got a roughly similar population. We have a very multicultural and diverse society comprised mainly of the Malay Boon Putera, the Chinese Malay, the indigenous Malay and then the Indian Malay. And one of the things that I was kind of sort of floored by when I came here was the fact that, you know, I was kind of happy about myself that I can speak English and a bit of French but I mean everyone here speaks at least three languages if not more. There's a lot of wide variety you have Bahasa Malayu which is the official language, you have English, numerous Chinese dialects, Tamil, Telugu, just a number of them. And it is a Muslim country, the official it is officially Muslim country with a 61.3% Muslim population however you like there is representation by other religions as well. It's a young population, the median age is about 28.2 years. And so it's a population that has a lot to grow. It's a population that has a lot of young people to help drive the economy I guess is the best way to put it. So next slide please. So GDP growth. Okay, so I mean, obviously in 2020 everything kind of went off cliff or 2019 rather, but we're starting to see signs of recovery here. The estimated GDP growth for 2021 is between three to 4% inflation is pretty, you know, relatively low at 2.2%. The Malaysian ring it has has sort of declined a little bit against the Canadian dollar which you know is easier on my bank account, but also makes goods from Malaysia, less expensive to purchase. So the, you know, Malaysia itself is a middle income nation, and it has a lot of projection, it has projections to reach high income status between 2024 and 2028, which would, you know, place it as being the second nation and as an after Singapore to do so. And, you know, this is a point that I'm going to probably come back to a few times in my presentation is the fact that, you know, people look at asian and they sort of look at Singapore and as, as, as my colleague said before, you know, they're facing itself as a hub for the region and whatnot but Malaysia also is and Malaysia is growing rapidly and the message that I would have would almost be, you know, you would. Malaysia is a bit of a hidden gem in the sense that the potential there, the where it is now and where it's going to be in 10 years is going to be completely different. And it is also setting itself up to be a hub for medicine to be a hub, a transit hub to be a hub for education for the region. And for for halal foods for example to and it does this by dint of the fact that, again, you have the native Malay population you have the Malay Chinese population which have strong links to China you have the, the, the, the Malay population, which has also strong links to the Middle East as well. And so you have all of these, these sort of venues like these pathways from Malaysia to hit up, you know, some of these major markets in the Malay Indians have strong links with India to. So, you know, from that kind of demographic perspective, as well as a geographic location. It is, it is very very well served as, as a sort of a gateway to basically, you know, half of the planet essentially. So, the, see next. So you'll see that Malaysia's main trading partners are China, Singapore, Australia, the EU, US, and Japan, and that their main economic drivers are basically in the form of electronics oil and gas, palm oil and rubber, which are some of our key imports from Malaysia. Next slide please. And as I said before, you'll see that it is a federal constitutional monarchy with the bicameral parliament, and there's a head of state, the king, and then the head of government is a prime minister as well. It's 13 states in one federal territory and for those who have been following the news I know that in the last, you know, year or two. There's been some, there's been a bit of sort of back and forth on the political side with with changes of prime minister and the like, however, I would say that things have very much settled now and stabilized here from a political perspective. And, you know, there might be another election coming up next year. However, you know this is, it does look like smooth sailing ahead, at least from sort of my, my outsider perspective on that. So, next slide please. In terms of bilateral commerce. You obviously we have, you'll see that there is a bit of a gap between what we export to Malaysia and what we bring in from Malaysia so you know as mentioned previously, our major exports to Malaysia are potash, primarily for the palm oil plantations. That includes beans, wheat, petroleum, cereals and oil seeds and that includes canola. And our merchandise imports from Malaysia, however, are much, much greater and that includes mainly electronic machinery and equipment, rubber gloves and fat and oils. You know, the, on that point in particular you'll find that a lot of the foods that we consume in Canada contain fats and oils from Malaysia. Malaysia is one of the largest producers of rubber gloves in the world. So it's a good chance that those gloves that are being used did come from the country. So, let's see what else do we have here so the, there have been, you know, significant investments from Malaysia into Canada. And the biggest one, which I think relates directly to BC is the one that was made by Petronus which is the state oil owned oil and gas company. In 2012, it accessed major gas reserves through the acquisition of progress energy and expanded those assets through other acquisitions and exploration. And then in 2018, it invested, it was part of an investment into the LNG Canada project in Kitimat, BC, which was about $40 billion and Canadian and Petronus accounted for one quarter of that was 25% of that investment which is still to this day the largest single private sector investment into Canada and Canadian history. And Petronus has also has additional gas assets in northern BC, which are valued at approximately $7 billion and is in the process of examining possibilities to further monetize its assets there, including like blue methane, for example. And so the there are very, very strong linkages between both countries that don't might not necessarily you might not necessarily see at first glance. Next slide please. So some of the major Canadian companies that are in Malaysia, you can see here on the slide we have McCain we have Canadian solar CAE who operate flight simulator training for the Air Asia airline here. Technion you have manual life financial Selexica, who are a contract manufacturer, some life of course for seasons. Graham on who are Canadian limestone mining and process company. So next slide please. And likewise the major Malaysian companies in Canada. Petronus of course is sort of the major one but you've also got other companies like Wasco Energy who produce pipe coatings to a global which is a real estate development company. So I believe they've opened an office in Vancouver, Royal Selangor, which make amazing pewter sculptures, I like corporation which deal mainly in palm oil, and then and then a few others. Next slide please. So now, I want to speak a little bit about the opportunities that might be present or that might be of interest to you in Malaysia. I'm going to go through these all sort of quickly one by one so next slide please. So aerospace and defense. You know although severely impacted by COVID-19 Malaysia's domestic market competition is starting to show life again with Air Asia, you know getting back on its feet and Malaysia Airlines as well as well as a number of other low cost carriers who are starting to see a new face thanks to the reopening of interstate travel as well as the, the, you know, hopeful eventual reopening of international travel. In addition, there are many offshore operations with respect to oil and gas, the bulk of Malaysia's oil and gas assets are located like offshore. And so that leads to a need for more helicopters. And also a need for rotoring, rotoring wing aircraft MRO services to repair the largely aircraft that they already have training schools to train pilots that will fly aircraft in the future. And then with regard to defense and security. Malaysia is implementing a modernization strategy for its naval and air capabilities and radar and surveillance systems as well are going to be in high demand for the next little while next next slide please. So when it comes to agri food that is probably the strongest connector between Malaysia and Canada. And you, what we're seeing in Malaysia right now is that, as I mentioned before they're moving towards becoming a high income economy. And with that comes an increasing rise in middle class and middle class disposable income. And as a result of that, we're starting to see the middle class more and more take note of of matters related to food health matters related to food quality. So we're really interested in in things like become basically becoming pickier about what they can eat and what what they want to eat and what they can afford to eat and so, you know, we're seeing a shift from towards some higher value items we're seeing, you know, more organic foods on the shelves. And so what that means is there's a lot of opportunity for Canadian and BC, Exporters of Food because the, the brand is a bit like Canada's position in Malaysia is basically, it's a good one like we have a very good branding here. When people think of Canada, you know they think of like you know polar bears and niggles and whatnot but at the same time, it's a very. feeling people have a very high impression of Canada. They think that can Canadian products are of high quality of healthy quality and you know they might be a little bit more expensive. However, it might be worth that price and so there is, we're already set up quite well here for that, especially when it comes to our foods and Malaysia itself relies on imports to meet most of its needs and in basic food commodities with the exception of rice and fresh vegetables. So we're also seeing in Malaysia a really strong push towards food independence and domestic production. And so if there are companies that have capacity in being able to provide training assistance or innovative technologies with respect to agri food innovation. I think that there are openings here that that might be of interest because Malaysia, especially the COVID-19 pandemic is really kind of, you know, I think shown the Malaysian government that they having domestic food production is is really really critical and they I think they want to bring that that 70% figure down a bit. And then last point that I want to raise is that food products, especially retail products here, they must be halal certified. And not everybody obviously here, you know, is a practicing Muslim, however, the majority are and retailers here will generally not put products up on the shelves that the majority of consumers cannot purchase and so halal certification is a is an absolute must for any products that would be coming from Canada or British Columbia to Malaysia here. Next slide please. So we have opportunities in clean tech as well, which is also a priority sector for the government of Canada access to clean water is a major concern in Malaysia, because water consumption is quite high at around 211 liters per person per day. And so we're seeing plans by the Malaysian government to build new infrastructure through new water infrastructure to repair old water infrastructure to sort of bring it up to speed. They're also looking to looking at wastewater solutions. Basically, any chance any sort of technology that might assist in in these endeavors, you know, like membrane technology for wastewater, for example, technology, technology, solar panels, Canadian solar is one of the active companies that are here. And so there's there is a demand for this because basically Malaysia is in a position where it is looking at the future, and it is saying responsibly that they, yes, they you know, they're going to move to a high income economy. They want their economy to keep running but at the same time they also want to ensure that they're doing this in a sustainable and a green fashion. And so there is quite a lot of opportunity here for companies in that sphere. Next slide please. Now education is probably one of the most significant linkages that we have between Malaysia and Canada. So everyone is very excited for the upcoming a pie a pie conference that's going to be happening in in early 2022 in Vancouver, which is the first time that this Asia Pacific Education Conference which is massive. It's the first time that it's ever going to be held sort of outside of the Asia region per se and so I know it's been delayed by about two years. But there is quite a lot of interest that Canada is going to be the host and that we're going to be hosting in Vancouver. So approximately 61,904 Malaysian students have studied abroad, less than 1% study in Canada, but we're working on increasing that number. So one of the challenges is the geographic distance. So parents play a significant role in the decision making process for students in Malaysia and sort of, you know, they'd rather their child be seven hours away in Australia than like 30 hours away in Canada. So there is that however, again, the Canada brand is strong. The interest in Canada is rising. And we see we saw that interest in Canada spike to the detriment of the United States, especially between the 2016 to 2020 years. I won't go any further into that flow of commentary. But we are, you know, there was a bit of a drop in student studying in Canada in 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, but we're starting to see those numbers rise up again. And one of the points that I really kind of want to drive home is the fact that there is really strong appetite for Malaysian institutions for partnerships with Canadian universities and colleges. We are constantly being asked, you know, like we buy by institutions and approached by institutions here to say we want to engage with with our Canadian counterparts more can you help us with this please. And it's a little frustrating because it's usually the Canadian side that is harder to get it harder to engage on like we actually have to kind of go over to the Canadian institutions and sort of, you know, kick them in the butts a little and say come on guys like let's work on this a bit and so if there is interest and if there is desire from an education perspective, then very much so the Malaysians would welcome it with open arms. Another interesting aspect is the fact that recently Malaysia, the Malaysian government has recommitted to improving and enhancing the spoken English and the written English capacities of of its, you know, mainly the adult population here. And so they are looking for assistance in English language training. Now, Australia and UK have kind of pounced on that a little bit but there are, there are opportunities for Canadian companies as well. That might specialize in that especially on the virtual stage. So, that is, that is something else in the education side. Lastly, the Canadian federal government has something called the Canada as you can see scholarship which is which we've been using for the last three years to bring Malaysian students over to Canada for short term studies and it's, we've seen very good uptake on that. So it's, it's a sort of a selling point for Canadian institutions and I mean again the, you know what we've heard from Canadian institutions is that they really want to diversify their student market or their student recruitment efforts. You know, they kind of want to move away from, you know, just the, the, the big two that are often targeted and I'm sure you know who those are. And so Malaysia as a, as a, as an alternative to that is, is one that I would highly recommend that that institutions consider. Next slide please. So there are a lot of, there are opportunities in the ICT sector as well and these mainly I think I'm starting to run out of time so I'm going to go a bit faster I apologize for that. Malaysian ICT sector has experienced very strong growth. It's very, very competitive, however, the telcos here are quite advanced, they're rolling out 5G soon. It's, it's, it's, it's a very exciting sector to be in opportunities that that I think might be of interest here would focus on things like cybersecurity, the Internet of Things, especially with commercialization of smart city infrastructure applications and services like smart highways, intelligent traffic management systems and the like. Big data and analytics as well is, is growing here, fintech too, and then health IT and I'll get to that a bit more about that in my next slide. So, next slide please. Life Sciences is a is a big one here and it's, it's one that we've recently at the High Commission chosen to kind of pursue a bit more in the past. It was always a reactive sector for us but you know COVID-19 has kind of changed that dramatically and it's especially the case with the fact that as I said before, because of the natural resources, the rubber resources that Malaysia has access to, they are responsible for 60% of global medical gloves and 80% of catheters. They have a strong medical tourism industry as well and they're working to to promote that even higher for the region. As a result there are opportunities in medtech, senior care, chronic disease and an STI. Now, one of the interesting cases that I've noted while I was working here was the fact that we were approached by a Malaysian company who kind of said to us, you know, there are many advances in robotics, given the severe supply chain disruption, given the challenges and the cost increases with shipping stuff overseas and clearing customs and so on and so forth. Their cost projections actually showed that it would be cheaper for them to open up a heavily automated glove producing factory in British Columbia, then it would be for them to purchase to produce those gloves in Malaysia. And then ship them over here. So, you know, this kind of, I think opens up the door to the fact that yes, these disruptions are severe. Yes, you know, I read that report this morning about how Canadian food prices are going to go up by $1,000 per family. And it's gotten a lot more expensive to ship things now, but at the same time. I wonder whether or not this is opening up a new opportunity for Canada and specifically for British Columbia to attract the sort of sort of bring back production capacity and production factory production to the region. And that's something that, you know, we're going to be exploring a bit more on but it's like it's a bit of food for thought that I kind of want to leave the audience with here. Next slide please. So infrastructure as well. For those companies that are on the line that deal with infrastructure or construction. Malaysia's booming like I mean, where I live I look outside and I can't. I can't imagine without seeing a construction crane or a new building going up where I'm from in Ottawa. You know, we just put in this five kilometer long light rail system and apparently it keeps derailing all the time like here they're building dozens and dozens and dozens of underground metro lines like just stuff that that just, you know, is is miles beyond anything that we have in Canada like in Toronto or in Vancouver or or anything like that. And it's, this city is going to be unrecognizable, I think in 10 years because the infrastructure development is just off the charts. And so, part of the at two and part of the opportunity is the fact that the Malaysian government is really really looking more at public private partnerships and as I think everybody is aware Canada is a is a world leader in this model of infrastructure development. And again, I think that there are opportunities here for expert assistance consultation, as well as, you know, getting involved in some of these large projects. Again, one of the challenges that, you know, there's nothing Chinese competition but there, I think there are more than enough projects here for everybody. Next slide please. The last of course is is the big one so this one should be about 20% to Malaysia's economic growth. Say don't company Petronus holds a monopoly so anyone that wants to deal in this sector has to go through them. But you know what what I found very interesting is the fact that they are very keen and what I mentioned before they're looking towards an inevitable clean energy transition. So they Petronus has actually declared its aspiration to achieve net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050. And part of this is to make cleaner energy more accessible by increasing efficacy and providing low carbon energy and solutions such as natural gas and renewable energy. So, opportunity opportunities exist in that sphere too. Next slide please. So some of the challenges with Malaysia. You know I said at the beginning of my presentation that I think the Malaysia as a country can be summed up as a hidden gem. And that if there was one word that I would use to describe the Canada Malaysia relationship it's, you know, as tight as it sounds it's potential because there is so so much potential between the Canada Malaysia relationship. There are challenges and there are some reasons why that potential has not yet been reached so it's a very highly competitive market obviously and this is basically, you know Australia's stomping ground like stuff that you would normally see on the shelves that you would, you know, associate with Canada like you know Quaker oats comes from Australia and so by by nature of the fact that they are so close like geographically, it's a little bit tough for Canada to get out of the shadow there. But at the same time to, you know, we find again as a trade commissioner here, half of my job is waving the Canadian flag in Malaysia, but my other half of my job is waving the Canadian Malaysian flag back in Canada and kind of telling like companies are like guys, you got to get over here like the, like the opportunities are here. It is a price sensitive market. And, you know, there are some protectionist aspects, halal for agri foods and other things like you know Islamic banking and financing could pose a bit of a, you know, a bit of a hurdle for Canadian companies I know some have sort of said well I don't know how do you go through and what not, but it's not as hard as people, you know, feel like it is. Probably again the biggest challenge is the fact that there is no direct logistical connection by air or by sea between both countries like there's one, which is an outbound cargo route that goes out of Halifax fall places but it's still faster for stuff to be shipped out of the off the West Coast obviously to Malaysia. And so I know in the past that Air Canada used to have a direct flight between Vancouver to fall and poor. But that that that hasn't been the case for for a while and so dealing with the logistics, trying to figure out a way of getting product here getting product made here that is still price competitive I think would be the biggest challenge. So if there is some way that you're able to, you know, overcome that if you are able to offer the product at a competitive price, you will, you'll do very very well. So next slide please. And this is just, you know, basically tips for doing business like I mean doing business in an Asian culture is different than doing business in, you know, in North America. So here I find that you can't just kind of, you know, have a virtual meeting a one off and that be it like you need to work to expand to develop the relationship you need to sort of, you know, give action to your words. People who come here on a regular basis, often find success in doing so. Next slide please. This is business etiquette I mean if if you're very interested in some of this stuff I'm happy to speak to you more about it in the future. Next slide please. And then the trade commissioner service. So basically my job here is to try to help the Canadian companies source product from Malaysia or find local partners in Malaysia. I encourage investment from Malaysia and Canada and so the clients that I represent are you, the Canadian companies on the line. Our services gratis. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Final slide please. Our contact information is right here. And so we are the ones who are on the ground who misses to you. So thank you very much. I think I sort of rambled a bit too too much since I apologize for that but I hope it just sort of reflects my enthusiasm for Malaysia as a country as well as the potential I see in the Canada-Malaysia relationship. Thank you very much Tom. I think that was very valuable information for our attendees. Okay just a quick reminder to everyone to type in any questions that you have into the Q&A function at the bottom of the screen. So we have Eric Peterson who joined Canada's foreign ministry in 2000, following private sector rules in managerial accounting and international marketing. He has been posted to Reykjavik, Tokyo, and as well as Stockholm, including as the acting head of mission while he was there during the COVID pandemic. Mr. Peterson is currently a trade commissioner in the Pacific regional office responsible for defense and cybersecurity sectors as well as issues related to trade policy and export controls. Welcome Eric. Thanks Ben. You've been hearing a lot about potential. The previous presenters have been talking about what's going on in the market, what's going on in the region. I want to note this being an area of great growth and great potential. We've seen that there are new trade agreements. There is a new trade agreement and new trade agreements that are coming for this region to make sure that Canadian companies have enhanced access to these markets. My job is to help you get there. And so I want to be very practical in my presentation. I'm in the trade commissioner service. I work hand in hand similar to what Tom does in market, but I do it here in Vancouver. I do it in the regional office. And the Pacific regional office we support clients in BC and Yukon. And we really try to make sure that companies are ready to get to market and can do it in a thoughtful prepared way to get success. So as Ben noted, my sectors are defense and cybersecurity. I also help to give advice or context on the export controls or free trade agreements, sanctions, things like that. But we have trade commissioners representing all sectors here in this office. So please, I'm going to send my contact details into the chat. Give me a pin, give me a bump, and I'll try to introduce you to the trade commissioners for your sectors just to make sure that you can get this preparation for international markets. So you can get the market intelligence, the more specific details about strategy, guidance on target markets. You can make introductions to local contact and get you involved in the network to make sure that you are meeting the right people to make sure that you can do the business there. We can give you information on funding programs to help you get to new markets. I can talk about that trade policy or troubleshooting issues. We can even give advice on responsible business conduct. This is for regions where, say, there's human rights abuses or authoritarian regimes or sanction issues, or maybe different challenges ones can face with reputational risk. So I am the basically the free service to you, the consultant, to make sure that you can get to these opportunities which we've been talking about for the past hour or so. So I try to understand who you are, what you're trying to accomplish. I need to know your value proposition and where you're going to go. I will direct you also within this local network of federal, provincial and municipal partners to make sure that you get the most appropriate advice for where you are in your life cycle, in your business product. So whether that's with ICEDD or Pacific Cann, whether that's with the WTC event, COOVER, the Trade Accelerator Program, I deal with Surrey Board of Trade. We try to make sure that we have a good idea about what's going on here so we can best help you get to market. So yeah, there's a lot of potential there and we are putting this on because we want to see you be successful in these markets because we know that there's great potential. I'm not going to take any more of your time. I know that this is in the evening or the morning in other places, but I wanted to really quickly just give a plug for the Trade Commission of Service and the regional office here. Reach out and we'll try to set something up for you. Great. Thank you very much, Eric. I really appreciate you taking the time to join us today. I'm going to just load up the next presentation and I am the next speaker. We are running short on time so I'm going to go through this as quickly as I can. The main thing I want to highlight here is really just, it's been mentioned already, but I want to reiterate that with the CPTPP, Malaysia has not yet ratified the agreement so the provisions are not yet in effect. We're hoping to raise awareness of some of the opportunities in hopes that Malaysia will of course ratify soon. The main thing is the competitive edge that the CPTPP gives you in these markets for those markets that have already ratified the agreement. The competitive edge is great of course, but the thing is the CPTPP is actually designed to expand and although that means that your preferential access can grow as well, it also means that you have some potential other competitors from other markets as the agreement area expands. You probably have heard that the UK and China, Taiwan, South Korea and others have expressed interest in joining. The US has said that it is not interested at this time, but they could easily join in the future. So it's something that we're hoping to raise awareness of to hopefully get people into the market before those other markets are in there. Okay, this is just a rundown of some of the high level aspects of the agreement. Again, I won't get into too much detail here. It is the CPTPP covers traditional areas of trade like goods and services and investment, but it also covers more modern aspects of economic relationships like digital trade. There is a dedicated SME chapter, which really seeks to encourage greater participation by SMEs like yours in trade. There is an attempt to make government procurement opportunities more accessible. There is a requirement to make information related to the agreement easily accessible on websites. There are provisions around anti-corruption and things to address unfair competition by state-owned enterprises. The other thing I would highlight quickly here are the inclusive trade provisions that are in the CPTPP. Inclusive trade really is a priority for BC. This really is just about seeking to ensure that the benefits of trade are felt by as many people as possible. And the last thing I'll mention is that the CPTPP preserves the right of governments to regulate in the public interest. All right, I'm going to dive into some details. I don't want to get too technical on you, but first of all, tariff cuts and elimination under this agreement really just reduce the cost of and make your products more competitive. As we implemented this agreement, we'll have 99% of tariff lines among CPTPP parties will be duty free. You may know that Singapore had very few tariffs to begin with. The CPTPP eliminates any remaining tariffs, including on beer, where tariffs of up to 16 Singapore dollars per liter were eliminated upon entry into force. So your beer is that much cheaper than competitors do don't have that preferential access. So tariff reductions can also reduce your cost of imports from CPTPP parties into Canada. So you may have inputs going into a product, a finished product that you can then export. The other thing though that the CPTPP does when it comes to goods and maybe even more important than tariff reductions is it addresses non tariff barriers. These are things like differing standards and duplicative testing or onerous labeling requirements. The CPTPP really encourages the use of internationally accepted standards. It requires early notification and publication of technical regulations, and also create some groups to address some of these non tariff barriers. And if you're facing some of these barriers we would really like to know this is something that we can communicate with folks like Tom and Eric and our in our federal representatives to seek to have those addressed. Okay, what you're looking at here on the screen is just some product categories where BC producers may see some opportunities for goods exports to Malaysia once it ratifies. Tom of course went over some of those other sector opportunities. These are just some of the products that we have picked out that we know are probably in demand in Malaysia, and also where there are some potential significant reductions in tariffs under the CPTPP. So what you see here is just the rate that will apply under the CPTPP for Malaysia once it ratifies, as well as the rate that is applied to products that are coming into Malaysia for countries that don't have an FDA with Malaysia. This is otherwise known as the most favored nation rate. And you can see, I'm not going to go through all of these but you can see that the, that the advantages really considerable in some cases and this is of course not an exhaustive list. So if you have other products that you are curious about please just reach out to us and we can we can walk you through this. One tool that I really like to highlight is Canada's terror finder. This is very easy to use all you really need to get started is, you need to know that the product sorry the market that you're interested in exporting to or importing from, as well as the access code or a keyword for the product that you're looking to export or import. It is available for all the markets that Canada has an FDA with and so it is relevant for Singapore. It is not, you cannot use it for Malaysia yet. It ratifies and you'll be able to use it. There are other ways to find out what those tariff rates are under just the WTO, or as I said, you can reach out to me and I can help you walk through what they look like under the CPQPP. Okay, there's a lot of information on this slide. I don't have time to get into the details but it's really just walks you through some of the things you should consider if you are looking to export goods. I talked about Canada's terror finder. The other thing you need to be aware of is rules of origin. These are of course, they just determine whether or not your product will qualify and get that preferential treatment. They can be complicated. Please reach out if you want to discuss these. We can let you know what they look like under the CPQPP and other free trade agreements. The other thing that I would really like to remind you of is that you need to actually claim the preferential access under the CPQPP and all FTAs. Even if your product qualifies, it will not automatically receive the treatment. In the case of the CPQPP and most other FTAs, you need a certificate of origin. In the case of the CPQPP, a producer, an importer or an exporter can actually claim that, can actually submit that certificate of origin and that is a little different than Canada's other FTAs. It does not have to be in a prescribed format. It needs to be writing and that can include digitally, but there are some minimum data requirements and beyond that, it's fairly simple to work with. And all of this may sound overwhelming and I know I'm going through it very quickly, but the last thing you can see on the slide here is something called advanced rulings. And this really gives you certainty about how your product will be treated once it arrives at the border and how the relevant customs authority will treat your product at the border. It is one of the most effective trade facilitation tools under Canada's FTAs. They really expedite customs clearance and there are no surprises. It's very simple that your product is being categorized as you as you think it will be and whether or not it meets those rules of origin and gets that preferential treatment. Okay. Just quickly on services. The CPQPP uses what is called a negative list approach. And that means that all services are covered under the agreement unless parties have taken exceptions or reservations against a particular service. There are some core obligations under the CPQPP when it comes to services and basically your service should get no worse treatment than Singapore and Malaysia provide service providers from within, sorry, from other trading partners. This is known as most favored nation treatment. It should get the same treatment as other domestic service providers. Parties should not be imposing restrictions on the on the quantity or types of entity that can be providing services. They, there are some improved market access commitments in for both Singapore and Malaysia once it gratifies and the countries can't be imposing local presence or residency requirements as a condition of cross border supply of service. Temporary entry is also relevant here. It really makes it easier for you to enter the market as a business visitor and investor or a highly skilled professional note that under the CPQPP, every party took different levels of commitment. So those don't necessarily apply to all markets, but it really just allows you to get into the market easily more easily and it doesn't replace the visa process though. So that's important to remember. And finally, government procurement businesses across all sectors can now compete for can compete equally with domestic service suppliers in these markets for government procurement contracts that involve covered goods and services above set dollar thresholds. Okay, the last thing that I'll talk about here is investment and many of these concepts really just mirror what I just talked about when it comes to services. The CPQPP really just aims to create a predictable transparent and rules based environment for for investment. And so you know that your party, sorry that your, your investment will be treated no worse than that those investments that are coming from within the host countries. And if those countries give some sort of treatment to another one of their trade partners that your investment will be receding the same treatment. So minimum standards rules around performance requirements. And your investments will be covered from a sort of protected from things like expropriation or nationalization, except in very specific circumstances and only when they're accompanied with adequate compensation. And temporary entry applies for investors to Singapore but not Malaysia and that's important to keep in mind, even once Malaysia ratifies. That's not something that will be available under the CPQPP. So that's it for me, I know I just went through that pretty quickly. If there's anything when it comes to the CPQPP Singapore Malaysia or other FDAs. If it's something that you're considering please reach out to me and I'll get to the information and the assistance that you need back over to you Janet. Thank you. Ben hello again it's Janet I'm responsible for the ASEAN file and as I reflect back over the past decade, as I've moved from the Beijing file over to Hong Kong Taiwan and before landing on the ASEAN one. There's been a trend, a steady following of companies joining me and my travels from one market to another for mature markets to emerging ones. And this is particularly true for the agri-food file, whether it be seafood, cherries, apples, juice, candy, craft beer or wine. For example, BC cherries that were once seeking market access into China are now available in Singapore called cans of parallel 49s craft beer can be found at fair price in Singapore as well as red and white in Indonesia. And these three golden bonbons are not only available in Hong Kong. They can now be found at Gear Grocer in Malaysia. And this is a result of trade diversification. These success stories are due to the collaboration of exceptional people representing BC in Canada, here in the province as well as those in the market. It really makes a huge difference to have the trade commissioners service EDC Economic Development Canada and the BC's trade and investment team working together. And we work closely with our counterparts such as Tom and Eric and their colleagues to deliver events facilitate introductions and meetings. We also call upon the support of ministers and council generals for their support such as Jeff and the minister and minister chow. They may recall presenting at a Hong Kong Canada business council events in Vancouver not too long ago, but sessions such as this one. We are holding today, help to inform and connect with BC companies. We plan to hold sector specific events in the coming year to focus on areas such as clean tech. We have a lacquery on board to help support us in this industry and sector such as ICT aerospace life sciences and agri food to name a few. And I'm really pleased to advise you that we have a dynamic and really experienced team across Southeast Asia to support to in market. For for Singapore and Malaysia we have Joan and Lisa covering these markets and if you are interested in the ASEAN market please reach out to me and as we do have other team members in the region as well and I will provide your my email address for you to connect with us but reach out to us and we're here to support you over to you then. Thank you very much, Janet. I know that we're over time now so appreciate everyone's patience. If you have to go we understand and of course the recording will be available after the session is over and should be emailed to you next week. I think, hopefully our attendees have a better understanding of what BC specific trade supports are available to them. Our next speaker is Chris Deeparaja. Chris is passionate about helping Canadian entrepreneurs grow their brands on the international stage. He brings more than 16 years of financial sector expertise to export development Canada. He has been mandated to grow the EDC footprint on Vancouver Island, and his current relocation to market is an exciting milestone for EDC in support of Canadian exporters. Thanks for joining us today Chris. Thank you Ben. I'm also General Minister Chow, distinguished guest. It's a pleasure to be here tonight and thank you for allowing me to speak. I'll be conscious of time so we'll get through this as quickly as painlessly as possible. At the end of the presentation my information will be shared but EDC is essentially part of the Ministry of International Trade federally and we're here to support Canadian companies who are growing outside of Canada. I have a team of colleagues on the mainland who manage the province with me and we are definitely available to help support you grow your business outside of Canada, specifically in Singapore and Malaysia. In the next slide please Ben. So who are we are? We are Canada's credit export agency. We support Canadian companies responding to international business opportunities. As mentioned we are a Crown Corporation owned by the Government of Canada. However we do operate at arms length because what we do, some of the things we do come with fees and so we do, we are a self-financing entity of the Canadian Government. Next slide please. So we have offices across the globe strategically placed and those are our boots on the ground much like my colleagues at Global Affairs. We also do have a fully operational office in Singapore that has a team of finance professionals, underwriting administrative staff. It was a market that we identified as being a key gateway for us about three years ago. And so it's been a pretty big success but as you can see representation from EDC across the globe. Next slide please. So our mission is really plain and simple. It's to help Canadian companies grow and succeed in markets outside of Canada. Next slide. Some misconceptions or some facts that people may think they know what we do. But we support traditional exporters, service based exporters and people that are exporting companies. Sorry companies that are within the supply chain who aren't even exporting but providing value to those who export. Regardless of the amount of knowledge or experience you have in exporting, we should be considered a key partner and it really doesn't matter what sector or what size of your company. As long as you have an inclination or are currently exporting, we should be part of that journey. Next slide please. So this is a real busy slide but much like my colleagues at Asia Pacific Foundation and Global Affairs in the province, we have the ability to provide some data and analytics and statistical information on markets of interest. If you do go to EDC.ca you can find our overview on the specific countries and regions that you're going into. And we have pretty granular information so please use those resources as you see fit. Next slide please. So some quick little high level facts. Exporting companies do do better. They typically generate about 121% more revenue than a company that isn't exporting. They're going to be 25% more innovative. They're exposed to various different ways of doing business, new concepts, new ideas, and they're going to incorporate that into their operations. And they experience 20% less risk. It seems counterintuitive but if you're putting all your eggs in one best basket and servicing the domestic market only in the event of such a, in the event of a pandemic or natural disaster like we've seen lately, that could pose a significant risk to your sustainability. So exporting companies do have 20% less risk. Next slide please. So how can EDC specifically help? Aside from the conversations, the market intelligence, the introduction to buyers, we do have a core suite of financial products that we can provide. We're not a bank or we're not a lender, but I'll tell you how we can provide value. Next slide please. So the three main buckets that we can provide that value are through our insurance, through our financing or what we call our working capital solutions, and through our knowledge. Our insurance is just that and insurance. But when we say financing again we're not a lender or a bank so we don't directly lend those funds. We work with the Canadian banks to get funds to companies that they need it. Next slide please. From the insurance piece we call that our risk mitigation. We have the ability to protect you and your balance sheet. We have the ability to put insurance on your foreign buyers regardless of how big they are or how small they are and protect you. In the event that they don't pay you, you're going to recover 90% of the cost of that receivable. So a pretty significant amount. It will allow you to access capital from your bank and also it's also going to allow you to become more competitive in the global market space. Next slide. In this high level example and again the slide that can be shared with you afterwards so you can go over this in more detail. But Jen owns a food production company and she knows that she needs to increase her sales. She has a large opportunity in Singapore and she's concerned with getting paid and how she's going to finance that. So the solution is really to get credit insurance on that particular buyer. Again it protects her at 90% of the cost of that receivable and it allows her bank to margin or lend money against that receivable. Therefore giving Jen more access to capital. Next slide please. Our financing solutions so as mentioned we don't lend directly but we work with the Canadian banks. High level example is a company that's looking to get some capital. Maybe they're exporting to Malaysia and they need an operating line of credit. We have the ability to come in and provide a guarantee to that bank. So we will tell that bank or credit union go ahead lend the money to that company. EDC will backstop 75% of that facility. It works in a variety of different forms so it can be an operating line of credit. You can be looking to do a term loan to get some capex. Maybe you're investing very heavily into R&D so a shred facility is applicable. Regardless of the type of situation the bank is wanting to provide we can come in and provide that value. Next slide please. I covered everything in my conversation there so we can go to the next slide. The financing here is Jill's environmentally monitoring technology company has won her largest contract to date which is in Malaysia. This contract could potentially double the company's revenue and provide her opportunity to grow in a new market and new region. Her challenge is that the 30-day payment terms from delivery will mean working capital constraints so there's a gap there. And she also needs to think about pre-shipment financing. How that works is EDC's guarantee program. We come in with Jill's bank and allow them to take a risk sharing mechanism where we take on the majority of the risk and therefore enhance their capabilities to lend Jill some money. Next slide please. Our bonding solutions in the event that you're a company that needs to post a letter of credit or provide some sort of financial instrument to your international buyers. That's another area where we can come in and provide value. Typically the Canadian banks will post this on your behalf however they're going to require you to collateralize that. Give them cash or some sort of security and our mechanism will come in and replace that cash or security 100% and enable you to preserve your working capital. Next slide please. So Jim here in the specific bonding scenario Jim has won a $1 million contract in Singapore that requires him to post a 10% performance bond. So the buyer in Singapore is saying we want this contract. Here's a down payment but we need something back from the Canadian company. An assurance that you'll execute on that contract. So Jim's only option is to say no to the contract or fork over the cash. He forks over the cash he reduces his working capital which couldn't impede the ability to execute on that contract. So again our solution is that we come in and provide 100% guarantee to the bank removing any kind of collateral that your client will need to post. Next slide Ben. So at the end of the day we are just invested in Canadian companies and wanting to ensure that they succeed globally. Really there is no question that should be considered a dumb question. We're here to help you and provide support through our colleagues as well as our ecosystem global affairs and the other ministries within the government. So please don't hesitate to reach out to myself. And I thank you so much for your time tonight. Over to you Ben. Thank you Chris. We appreciate your support that you and your EDC colleagues provide us here BC and Southeast Asia. Our next speaker is one that continues to shine a spotlight on Malaysia. Jim is currently the president of the Malaysia Canada Business Council and the director and co-founder of Petronas licensed companies service company in Malaysia. He is a retired professional engineer with over 35 years in both technical and senior management roles with BP and husband energy continues. He continues to enjoy connecting with people and creating new ideas and developing this opportunities with a diverse team so thank you Jim and Mike is yours. Thank you Janet. Hello, Mr. Chow and Council General Sam Sudan, the esteemed panelists and the people from the BC trade and the best team and ladies and gentlemen. My name is Jim Charlton and I'm the president of the Malaysian Canada Business Council. I'm going to cover three points a little introduction to the MCBC. I'd like to introduce you to the four seasons, and also the keynote speaker, Mr. Nelson Hilton. So on the MCBC were a nonprofit organization established in Kuala Lumpur in 1989. We do, we promote business with between Canada and Malaysia, and we do this by, you know, having in person events webinars. We have a good social media channel now, we've got newsletters, we're doing lots of B2B matching and trying to match companies in this topics that Tom was talking about and we also do our best to support the high commission. Our noble members are Sun Life, Mania Life and Air Canada, and we also have WSP engineering CAE and Osler as our members. And most importantly, we have four seasons has been here helping us for several years. Four seasons is has two lovely hotels in Malaysia. We just started one in 2018, Kuala Lumpur City Center at KLCC right by the Petronas Twin Towers. And they also got a beautiful resort in the island of Langkawi. And being a Canadian and working for a Canadian company for many years, I found that the four seasons was always a great go-to place for both business and leisure. So at the MCBC we've had a number of functions that we hold at the four seasons. In fact, we just had our Christmas party there, which was our first in-person event after almost 18 months. So we're very proud of that. So I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Nelson Hilton as our speaker for the four seasons. He's the regional director of marketing. And he's been there opening up the hotel at KLCC as of 2018. Previous to that, he was also in Thailand for seven years, looking after all the hotels of four seasons owns through Thailand and Bangkok and Koh Samui and Chiang Mai and what have you. And prior to that, Nelson was also in spent three years in Japan. He's been with the four seasons for over 27 years now. And previous to all his Asia experience, he was also looking after the operations in various hotels in the United States, namely Texas, Miami and San Diego. Nelson also has a great experience working with the Toronto Four Seasons office, probably working on different strategies to grow the four seasons brand in Asia. And he's also has the dubious honor, I guess, with the COVID, hopefully coming to an end on reshaping what travel will be like in the future. So over you Nelson to describe more of what Four Seasons doing and some of the new ideas that you're seeing developing in the area in the near future. Thank you. I appreciate that. I appreciate being asked to be a part of this amazing evening. Good morning from the beautiful island of Langkawi in Malaysia. Thank you, Mr. Chow. Thank you, Council General Shamsudin. Thank you for being part of this today. I just wanted to take our audience through a little bit about Four Seasons and about how we are here for you as well, along with the Malaysia Canada Business Council. Next slide then. So just a brief history I know we're behind on time but a brief history Four Seasons started 60 years ago we're celebrating our 60th anniversary this year. Isidore Sharp opened his first hotel in Toronto, a true Canadian company. And through the years we fine tuned what we were about and how we were doing business. Today we have 122 hotels around the world. 46 private residences in 47 different countries and more than 50 projects and contracts are in the pipeline due to open in the next three to five years in the next three to 10 years, excuse me. So far in 2021, a major pandemic year, we've opened three so businesses still moving forward and that was in Napa Valley, New Orleans and Taramina in Italy. So we were quite proud of still opening hotels around the world. Here in Malaysia Four Seasons has been in the market for the past 16 years with its first hotel Four Seasons Langkawi, a beautiful resort on the northern western side of the peninsula. And we opened that in 2005. Three years ago we opened Four Seasons Kuala Lumpur, and that is a city center hotel right in the best part of the city at KLCC. And also in the region, we offer Four Seasons in Singapore on Orchard Road, many of you may have traveled and been to that hotel it's been a key player in that market for the past 25 years. We opened our Four Seasons in Hong Kong, which holds that enviable position right on Victoria Harbor and attached to Central Station. So great great progress in opening more hotels out here to serve the business travelers and needs. Next slide please. So not only can Four Seasons be your home away from home, it gives you great comfort to know that there's that Canadian flag flying out front of every one of our hotels around the world when you pull up but you also have the opportunity with our Four Seasons residences. So if you're coming over to do some business in KL and explore the country for business opportunities, consider Four Seasons for a long term stay but also short term. It can be your home base, also if you need to conduct any meetings or events while here in Malaysia. Four Seasons offers virtual and hybrid meeting opportunities so if you are in the city and need to connect back need the green screen need to do more zooms. We have that capability and we have that setup already going. And so as international borders continue Four Seasons is ready here in Kuala Lumpur to welcome you from Canada and BC. And we have a number of restaurants and a number of opportunities for while you're here to experience the best of Malaysia but also the best of the world, and we work with a lot of BC exporters, sending us fabulous seafood and different fruits and vegetables. Malaysia is very fortunate with the amount of the local wealth we have in the country and through throughout the country, and local guests as well as business travelers are utilizing our restaurants and our hotel to have and have an appreciation for the premium products that we're serving. And they also have the disposable income, which is appreciated. And this is also very similar you'll find to Singapore and in Hong Kong. As you've heard in previous presentations, Malaysia is ready for future development. We are among one of the leaders in the vaccination fight against COVID-19 so as we move forward, all of us will be evolving through this pandemic. Currently 78% of the population, including children are vaccinated fully vaccinated and 100% in the Klang Valley which is including KL and Selangor, the largest state in the country. And when arriving to KL you're immediately struck by the modern infrastructure and the development that you're seeing as Tom mentioned. Airports, telecommunication, the ease of access to everything in the country and particularly Kuala Lumpur has made doing business here from overseas much, much easier. As a former British colony, as was mentioned earlier, Malaysian speak excellent English, and we have high standards of education to support the foreign companies investment in the country. Wages and cost of living are rather low compared to other countries. So it really is the perfect balance of technology, manpower and cost of starting businesses. Next slide. We wanted to just kind of give an example of how BC is is working with Asia. And here we just have a few years ago we had a food promotion with fresh foods taking place in Vancouver and our former four seasons Vancouver was all brought in and our Hong Kong chefs were there with our chef. But we wanted to really highlight the fact that we are here to collaborate. And we are here to do events and to help promote in any way suppliers wanting to either get into the Malaysia market or to experience the best of Malaysia. Next please. And sustainability is a focus for all of us around the world and Bartragona, which is the photo you see here is in the four seasons Kuala Lumpur, and Bartragona named for the honey bee here in Malaysia, the trigona be gives back to local farmers be producers, and our goal is to support the community so that they can support our guests. The bar is won numerous awards for its sustainability efforts, which has such an important impact on our environment. So in closing, I just wanted to thank you for your time. I want to just highlight that Malaysia is ready for international trade and investment. And the Malaysia Canada Business Council is also here to help bridge those gaps between the educated population and the lower cost of doing business. Malaysia is an ideal country to explore and to enter into. And through it all, I just want to remind that the beautiful Canadian flag is flying outside of our hotel right now as we speak, and he's ready we are ready to support you in your efforts. Thank you so much. Nelson, thank you for your words of encouragement. As you can see, we are surrounded by a wealth of tools and our trade and investment toolkit from insightful market intelligence and on the ground expertise to direct flights to transport people in cargo to the innovators who have helped really set the stage fly the kind of flag and for BC to deliver its premium goods and services. So this really is a collaborative effort, and we are here to support you. Thank you Janet, and we appreciate everyone's patience and understanding as I know we have gone over time today. I know that there were some questions answered throughout the webinar in the Q&A and if there are any more we will have to connect offline and continue the conversation. That's it for today's webinar. Hopefully the message is clear that everyone here that was speaking today can help you in different ways as you navigate your trade journey, whether that's with Singapore or Malaysia or another market. Please keep your eyes open for the follow up email that we mentioned earlier as well as future FTA information sessions. Thank you all for joining today. Thank you Minister and Consul General and all of the speakers for your contributions. We hope to hear from everyone soon. Have a safe holiday season and see you again. Goodbye.