Join the CIC National Capital Branch in a virtual panel of seasoned experts to discuss the Asia-Pacific Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the challenges and opportunities for Canada. The event features Senator Yuen Pau Woo and Professor Gregory T. Chin and will be moderated by former Canadian ambassador and past chair of the National Capital Branch’s Asia-Pacific Study Group, Bruce Jutzi. Elizabeth Kingston, President of the CIC National Capital Branch will deliver the opening remarks.

Speaker Bios:

The Honourable Yuen Pau Woo has over three decades of experience in strategy and policy for business, government and not-for-profit organizations.  Widely recognized as a leading thinker on international economic issues and Canada-Asia relations, he was appointed to the Senate of Canada in November 2016, and sits as an independent representing British Columbia. Prior to joining the Senate, Mr. Woo was President of HQ Vancouver, a public-private partnership that promotes British Columbia as a location for head offices of international companies. From 2005-2014, he was President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, where he continues to serve as Distinguished East Asia Fellow. He is chair of the board of the Vancouver Academy of Music, and a member of the Global Council of the Asia Society, as well as on the Advisory Boards of the Mosaic Institute and the Canadian Ditchley Foundation. In 2012, he was honoured with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award for his contributions to Canada-Asia relations. Senator Woo is a member of the following Standing Senate Committees: Selection and Transport and Communications. He is also a member of the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, with members from both the Senate and House of Commons. In December 2019, Senator Woo was re-elected for his second mandate as Facilitator of the Independent Senators Group.

Professor Gregory T. Chin is an Associate Professor of Political Science at York University, Canada. His principal research is on China’s international financial and monetary affairs, the Asian region, the BRICS, and global governance reform. Dr. Chin is a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) at Johns Hopkins University SAIS, and a member of the editorial and advisory boards of several academic journals and book series, including Review of International Political Economy. He was appointed to the Advisory Group for the research program of the United Nations Office on South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) in September 2020, and was an Expert on the UNDP-China Development Bank “Report on the Harmonization of Standards Along the Belt & Road” (November 2019). He has advised various government ministries and agencies of the Government of Canada, and other nations, including the United States. Prior to joining York University in 2007, he was First Secretary (Development) at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing from 2003 to 2006, and managed Canada’s official development assistance to China. From 2004-06, he also oversaw Canada’s humanitarian assistance to North Korea via the UN specialized agencies. From 2000 to 2003, he served in Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (China and Mongolia Division), and the Canadian International Development Agency (China and Northeast Asia Programme).

Bruce Jutzi will moderate this event. He joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1972. He was posted to Beijing 1974-76; Warsaw 1979-82; Washington, D.C. 1982-86; and again to Beijing 1989-92 as Deputy Chief of Mission. He was Ambassador to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, based in Prague, from September 2003 to August 2006. His Ottawa assignments have included Director of the Political/Economic Personnel Division, Director of the Korea and East Asia/Oceania Division, and Director of the China and Mongolia Division. He was appointed Director General of the North Asia and Pacific Bureau in August  2000, with responsibility for Canada’s bilateral political, economic and trade relations with China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, and Director General for Security and Intelligence and Departmental Security Officer in September 2006 following his return from Prague. He retired from the Foreign Service in April 2008. He holds an MA in Chinese studies from the University of Toronto and studied Chinese language at the University of Hong Kong.

Elizabeth Kingston will make opening remarks. She is the President of the CIC National Capital Branch. She had a career of 35 years with the Parliament of Canada as a Procedural Clerk and is now retired. She has held numerous positions including Clerk of the Standing Committees on Finance, Public Accounts, Aboriginal Affairs, Industry as well as the Special Joint Committee on the Meech Lake Accord. She has also served as Executive Secretary to the Canada – United States Inter-parliamentary Group, the Canada-China and Canada-Japan Parliamentary Associations, the Canada-United Kingdom Parliamentary Association and the Canadian Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Elizabeth also served as Executive Secretary to the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP), which serves to strengthen the participation of women in politics, government and society. She served as both a short term and long term observer for the presidential, then parliamentary elections in Ukraine in the spring and summer of 2019 and recently returned from Guyana and Ukraine as an election observer for their elections in January and October 2020. Elizabeth holds a Master’s degree in French Literature and is presently working on a Master’s degree in Theology.

FORMAT: Online event – Zoom platform

TO REGISTER: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qoZ-ixc0SuO8BlDVcHEBXg