March 25th-26th, 2009
Ottawa Economic Mission
The Ottawa Economic Mission, a two-day event organized by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, took place in the Nation’s Capital on March 25th and 26th, 2009. The focus of the program was to present the Heads of Mission with an opportunity to visit and familiarize themselves with locally-based technology companies, offering a wide range of services and products for the global market.
The program was launched by an official welcome by the Chief of Protocol, Mr. Robert Peck and an introduction by Mr. Ken Sunquist, Chief Trade Commissioner and Assitant Deputy Minister for Asia and Africa. This was then followed by a tour of companies including MDS Nordion http://www.mds.nordion.com, Mitel http://www.mitel.com, The Canadian Space Agency http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/default.asp, Carleton University’s Flight Visualization & Simulation Centre http://www.carleton.ca/cacr/researchers/cherdman/herdman.html, The National Research Centre http://www.nationalacademies.org/nrc and Allen Vanguard http://www.allenvanguard.com. In addition to business luncheons, the Ambassadors also had the opportunity to meet Mayor Larry O’Brien http://www.allenvanguard.com at an evening Reception that he hosted at City Hall.
It was an extremely valuable event providing Heads of Mission the unique opportunity of making contacts and seeing first-hand, the operations of innovative technology companies that are actively involved in conducting and seeking international business.