Local business leaders and officials with Invest Ottawa, the city’s key economic development agency, will be headed off to China with Mayor Jim Watson on Nov. 16 in an effort to enhance local business connections with Ottawa’s sister city, Beijing.
Invest Ottawa president Bruce Lazenby and representatives of at least 10 Ottawa businesses will meet with more than 100 investors and entrepreneurs in China, with Watson speaking at an investment and innovation seminar on Nov. 17, according to a news release.
Lazenby says he approached the mayor with the idea, having heard Watson was already planning a trip to Bangkok Nov. 20 for tourism promotion.
“He didn’t take much convincing,” Lazenby says. “He saw the wisdom in the trip pretty quickly.”
Invest Ottawa officials travelled to China with the mayor in 2013 with what was coined “Ottawa’s largest-ever business delegation,” according to the release. Bringing the mayor again, he says, is important to doing business in China.
“Anytime we’re fortunate enough to get the mayor to agree to travel, it’s a big deal because he can open doors in China that we can’t open without him,” Lazenby stated. “So they just know that when the mayor of a G7 capital city shows up, it’s a big deal.”
“Our local businesses, especially in the technology and tourism sectors, are uniquely positioned to attract investment and interest from around the world,” Watson stated when the trip was announced in October.
Kyle Liu, who attended the trip in 2013, is the CEO and president of iNano Medical Inc., a portfolio company of Invest Ottawa. He said the trip was integral to building relationships.
“These kinds of delegations are very helpful, and a start-up company should take part in these kinds of opportunities,” he said.
Lazenby says this trip is an important opportunity.
“China continues to represent a massive opportunity for Ottawa companies,” he says, “and we are happy to leverage the relationships and networks that we have established to help these companies penetrate the Chinese market.”