-ALL I WANT TO SAY HERE IS THAT, AS I INDICATE BY THE DATES PROVIDED OF THE ORIGINAL SUBMISSIONS IN WHICH COPIES OF THE TERM OF REFERENCE BELOW WERE INCLUDED, I HAD A LONG-TERM VISION ALL ALONG OF HOW TO RESPOND TO THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN REDUCING THE THREAT OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, FINDING "PEACE, SECURITY, AND JUSTICE" IN THE HOLY LANDS AND OTHER LONG-TERM WORLD TROUBLE SPOTS, AND CREATING A BETTER SYSTEM OF TRADE AND AID BETWEEN THE DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING WORLD.
RELATING TO WHAT YOU FIND BELOW IS WHAT YOU FIND IF YOU TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE--ABOUT PEOPLE WHO COULDN'T WAIT FOR DEVELOPMENTAL AID TO KEEP THEM ALIVE.
Advice to Canadians who
want to do business in the Third World:
The arrival of 10,000 international money men in Toronto offers Canadian businessmen an ideal opportunity to study the etiquette of wheeling and dealing with strangers.
So the federal Government's Canadian International Development Agency has come to a mobile outpost across Queen Street from the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meetings to see that lessons such as those mentioned above are learned.
For businessmen new to international trading, one of the most difficult traits to develop is a sensitivity to the manners and cultures of others.
If you're meeting for the first time with a Brazilian businessman, you don't turn up at his office at 8:25 a.m., expecting to close a deal," explained O. H. Timmins, director of CIDA's industrial cooperation division for Latin America and the Caribbean.
"You go out and have a coffee together to find out if you like each other--otherwise you won't do any business."
Mr. Timmins and representatives of Canadian export and import organizations are spending the week introducing foreign delegates to Canadian business and aid opportunities and to the private corporations that are looking for trade.
They are also developing a massive file of contacts around the globe who might become major players in future action.
"Canadian businessmen have a unique opportunity to advance Canadian business and technological relationships this week," Mr. Timmins said.
"There are certainly problems in dealing with trade in some areas of the world but what you have to do is to get the best deal for Canada and the developing world. And we are acting to assist in that effort."
Mr. Timmins and representatives of Canadian export and import organizations are spending the week introducing foreign delegates to Canadian business and aid opportunities and to the private corporations that are looking for trade.
They are also developing a massive file of contacts around the globe who might become major players in future action.
"Canadian businessmen have a unique opportunity to advance Canadian business and technological relationships this week," Mr. Timmins said.
"There are certainly problems in dealing with trade in some areas of the world but what you have to do is to get the best deal for Canada and the developing world. And we are acting to assist in that effort."
Mr. Timmins said new avenues for export and import are opening up as foreign businessmen make direct contact with Canadian producers rather than dealing through middlemen who have previously handled the promotion and sale of products.
"The whole of the Third World is squeezing out the middlemen," Mr. Timmins said. "And that's not a bad thing."
The Canadian Government's commitment to expand North-South relations has had a positive effect on the international business climate and the awareness of Canadian entrepreneurs, Mr. Timmins said.
"One of our failures in North America has been the belief that everybody south of the equator is a bow-carrying native," he said. "But over the last year I've sensed in my area of experience--Central America--a growing appreciation for Canada's position in the North-South dialogue."
CIDA's efforts to improve Canada's international trade relations will not wind down with the conclusion of the IMF meetings today. Agency officials and Brazilian, Caribbean and Latin American bankers, businessmen and development agents will move on to Montreal next week for a conference on private enterprise.
"Once we make contact with these people we don't want to fail to follow up on each opportunity," said William Johnston, an international trade consultant and representative of the Canadian Importers Association. "We don't let go."
(text of September 9, 1982 Globe and Mail front-page article)
DON'T THINK THE WISDOM OF THOMAS JEFFERSON IS PASSÉ YET IN WHAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO FROM YOUR GOVERNMENT? LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD: TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE TO SIGN MY GUESTBOOK.