Ian Burchett
The Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macau continues to explore additional opportunities for engagement between Canadians and the local community of Macau, “thus resulting in the Pop-Up Canada! initiative,” which starts today in Macau for the very first time. “We hope to see more Canadians and local Macanese residents at Pop-Up Canada!” Mr Ian Burchett told the Times in an exclusive interview via email.
Mr Burchett speaks proudly of the “socially engaged” local Canadian community, most notably on the education front. However, the Canadian presence in the city has become noticeably bigger in the past five years or so, in terms of people, trade, investment and tourism, mirroring the evolution of the MSAR’s economy.
In the interview, Canada’s top representative in both SARs revealed the “informal establishment of the Canadian Club of Macau, which will begin hosting monthly events aimed at bringing Canadians together” – of whom, as he puts it, there “are more than you think.”
Macau Daily Times (MDT) – The best-known “brands” when you think of Canada in Macau would be the International School of Macau (TIS) and the fact that the first CE, Mr Edmund Ho, studied in Canada. What are you developing now?
James Ian Burchett (JIB) – Canada and Macau continue to enjoy tremendous people-to-people ties as well as strong bilateral business relations. The Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macau has been officially accredited to Macau since 1980, but our economies have been interacting for more than 200 years, mainly through trade and immigration. It is interesting to note that Canada, in fact, plays a big part in the daily lives of people living in Macau: a Canadian company from Toronto was involved in the design and implementation of Macau’s traffic control and surveillance systems!
Canadian education also plays a key role in the Macanese community. TIS is the first and only Canadian international school in Macau. TIS offers a curriculum of the Province of Alberta and Canadian values, and provides an education that prepares students to study at universities in Canada or anywhere in the world. TIS is highly popular among the local and expatriate communities in Macau, and in order to meet the increased demand, TIS recently began the construction of Phase II of its campus … Phase II is scheduled to open in August 2016, just in time for the 2016-17 school year! Canada is also seeing a rise in the number of Macanese students pursuing further studies in Canada: 282 study permits were issued in 2014.
Macau also represents an important market for Canadian companies in the environmental protection, building and entertainment industries, as well as being a vital platform for Canadian companies, especially SMEs, to expand into mainland China as they look to develop their business in this region.
Canada continues to look for ways to further engage with the Macanese community, which is why we are hosting the first Pop-Up Canada! in Macau initiative this year from February 22 [today] to 24.
MDT – What do you expect of this promotional initiative – the first of its kind? Is this a one-off event or do you plan to organize it on a regular basis?
JIB – This year the events will mainly take place at the Grand Lapa Macau hotel, as well as at a few other venues across town. Modeled after the “pop-up store” concept, Pop-Up Canada! in Macau will give the Consulate General of Canada a presence in Macau and offer the public an opportunity to take part in several events and seminars on Canada, including talks on studying in Canada, immigration to Canada, and Canadian tourism, trade, and investment. Since this is the first time we are organizing such an initiative, we hope that it will be well- received by the Macanese community and we look forward to organizing similar activities in Macau in the future.
MDT – According to available statistics, exports from Canada to Macau grew nine-fold from 2010 to 2014. This seems intimately related to the huge expansion in casinos and hospitality, would you agree?
JIB – In fact, according to Statistics Canada, Canada’s exports of goods to Macau grew 14-fold from 2010 to 2015, to CAD58 million [MOP337 million]! During the same period of time, fish and seafood exports to Macau grew 60 times to CAD4.8 million, of which 95 percent were imports of Canadian geoduck clams. Not surprising to those of us who travel frequently to Macau, turbojet parts also grew 16 times to CAD7 million. Of note, loading and unloading machinery in fact grew from zero to CAD12 million in 2015. Macau is an important export market for Canada in the environmental protection, building and entertainment industries. For example, Macau is Canada’s third-largest export market for amusement park equipment – with total exports of over MOP24 million in 2014 alone; Canadian companies provided and installed Galaxy Macau’s Lazy River and Splashpad, The House of Dancing Waters’ stage waterproofing and water disinfection system, as well as the dome at Wynn Macau Kinetic Atrium.
MDT – Does this growth reflect in the Canadian expats’ presence in Macau? How large is the Canadian community here and how has it developed over past years?
JIB – There is an estimate that approximately 4,000 Canadians live in Macau. We are happy to note that Canadians in Macau are active and engaged in the community, increasingly so with the recent informal establishment of the Canadian Club of Macau, which will begin hosting monthly events aimed at bringing Canadians together. Information will soon be made available through the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Aside from Canadians living in Macau, there are a lot of Canadians who are visiting Macau as tourists. Canadian visitor arrivals in Macau also registered year-on-year increases, representing the third-largest group of long-haul visitor arrivals in Macau.
MDT – How would you describe the local Canadian community compared, for instance, with HK’s?
JIB – Although, in terms of numbers, the number of Canadians living in Macau is smaller than that of Hong Kong [300,000], I am proud to say that the Canadian community in Macau is making other contributions to this dynamic city. Like typical Canadians, the Canadians in Macau are very much active in the community. One excellent example would be the annual “Run of Hope.” Furthermore, not only are there an increasing number of Macanese students pursuing studies in Canada, there are already a number of academics in Macau who are Canadian alumni, as well as many senior representatives from government and private institutions who also have Canadian experience. There are more “Canadians” in Macau than you think!
MDT – How many hours or days a week do you spend thinking of Macau affairs? And what are the main issues or requests you usually deal with?
JIB – The Consulate General of Canada is regularly engaged with Canadians in Macau by providing regular consular services, such as citizenship and passport services. Our trade team also works regularly with Canadian and Macanese companies, providing them with assistance in terms of exploring partnership bilateral trade opportunities. We are eager to learn how we can become strong partners with Macau to further strengthen these ties.
MDT – What is your take on Beijing’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative?
JIB – The capital-intensive infrastructure projects foreseen under the “One Belt, One Road” initiative may offer opportunities for Canadian companies and large investors such as pension funds, but it’s still too early to determine exactly how Canadian companies might benefit. We’ll continue to monitor developments with a view to identifying and communicating such potential opportunities to Canadian businesses, and look forward to supporting our Macanese friends with this new initiative.
canada’s middle man in the sars
prior to joining External Affairs and International Trade Canada in 1990, James Ian Burchett worked as a legislative assistant to a member of parliament and served in several government departments. Mr Burchett first came to China to serve as counsellor (public and cultural affairs) at the Canadian embassy in Beijing, and since then he has been involved with Asian affairs back at the Canadian Foreign Office headquarters. There he has worked in divisions responsible for further advancing Canadian trade and economic interests with the Middle East and Gulf states, China, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea. J. Ian Burchett holds a BA in Political Science and a MA in Public Administration, and has been awarded two state distinctions for his services supporting Canadians abroad, namely in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks when he was serving at the NYC consulate.
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