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Something new and exciting is happening at the Trade Section of the Canadian embassy in Bangkok! It’s full of life, its results driven, and it’s achieving its objectives. Mike Ward is the team leader who, over the past two years, has motivated his colleagues and staff to successfully bring together Canadian and Thai business interests. His team is not only energizing the embassy, but Canadian business interests both here and in Canada. If Mike were a hockey player, he'd be the guy you send out on the ice to mix things up when your team was dragging its butt. He brings so much energy and enthusiasm to his job that it's contagious. |
Mike is an Ottawa type of guy - that's where he was born and raised, that's
where he met his wife, Kathy, and that's where two of his three children,
Christopher and Alison, were born (the third, Nicholas, was born in Saudi
Arabia). Mike kicked off his career in the Trade Commissioner Service in the
early 1980s by doing policy work. This included traveling to Geneva where he was
part of Working Groups that looked at international rules in place for such
trade issues as anti-dumping and countervailing duties and, for special measures
and protection where countries would impose quotas to protect their domestic
industries.
He got his first glimpse of Thailand in the mid-1980s when he traveled
throughout the region with a Canadian delegation involved in textile restraint
negotiations. The object of those negotiations was to limit imports of textile
and clothing products into Canada from low-cost exporting countries such as
Thailand. As Mike recalls, "The first time I stayed in Bangkok, the Regent
Hotel was called the Peninsula, and the embassy was located on Silom Road."
Mike brought his family to Thailand for a vacation in the summer of 1993, just
after Nick was born, spending a week in Bangkok and a week in Phuket.
Mike assumed his position as Canada's Senior Trade Commissioner to Thailand in
August of 1999. But he and his family have been out of Canada for ten years now.
From 1991-95, he was the section head of the Trade Department with the Canadian
Embassy in Riyadh. Then, from 1995-99, he went to the Canadian consulate general
in Chicago, where he switched roles entirely to manage the Political and Public
Affairs program. In Chicago, he handled issues ranging from lobbying U.S.
Midwest politicians to secure more favorable market access for Canadian
exporters, to launching a highly publicized campaign to build U.S. support for
Canada's initiative to ban the use of landmines. That campaign involved
partnering with key religious organizations and medical groups located in the
U.S. Midwest, and resulted in Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister making two
visits to Chicago to promote Canada's landmine objectives.
But why did Mike choose this line of work? "Because the work is so
interesting and varied and, because there is so much potential to make things
happen. We can really serve Canada's interests. Take, for example, the
Canada-Thai trade relationship. There is a lot that the embassy can do to
increase Canada's commercial presence here.
How? "From 1995-99, Canada's exports to Thailand fell by about fifty
percent. This started well before the crisis, so there was something
fundamentally wrong. We had to ask ourselves why Canadians weren't coming here.
I took this as a challenge. One of the outcomes was that my team and I created a
whole series of market reports that identify a number of sector and niche
opportunities for Canadian businesses to pursue in Thailand. We put these
studies on our webpage, and today we have more market reports on our webpage
than any other Canadian embassy. We've also doubled our outreach, both here and
in Canada, and we have published articles about market opportunities in
publications like CanadExport, which my Department distributes to thousands of
Canadian businesses every month. This is all in line with the 'New Approach' of
the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service that is geared at providing market
intelligence and other value-added information and services for our
clients".
What else is the embassy doing differently these days? "There's a sourcing
system called the International Business Opportunities Center (IBOC) that was
established by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. We
have made full use of IBOC by identifying opportunities here for Canadians to
pursue. For example, during outreach with a local Thai business, an officer from
the Trade Section may learn about a requirement for a particular product or
service. He or she will then contact IBOC and provide details on what is
required. Within the space of a week, IBOC will come back with a list of
Canadian firms willing and able to do the work. Every Canadian embassy and
consulate around the world submits requests to IBOC, but we are the third
largest user out of all Canadian missions, and the largest in this region. In
fact, we submit more leads to IBOC than our
counterparts at Canadian missions in Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, Singapore
and Jakarta."
"We are also strong promoters of CIDA's Industrial Co-operation Program
(INC), which provides money for feasibility studies to assess potential
commercial initiatives. Eight new potential projects have been identified by
Trade Section staff this year alone."
Canada's exports to Thailand have traditionally been commodity products, but
they are now shifting increasingly into the advanced technology sector,
particularly for goods and services related to telecommunications, computers and
geomatics, e.g. remote sensing and ground station upgrades.
Canadian success stories in Thailand include: SNC-Lavalin's $110 million turnkey
project with PEA for a system to monitor electrical networks; significant
advances by Nortel into the Thai Internet market; and sales by SR Telecom of its
wireless communications technology. These are just a few examples of Canada's
growing hi tech commercial presence in Thailand. Check out the embassy's website
at: www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/bangkok
(then click on International Business Development) to get a full list of all the
Canadian companies that have entered into successful ventures here over the past
few years.
But why are Thais doing business with us? "Canadian companies have a very
solid reputation here, they have staying power and, Thais respect our technology
and expertise. For example, the National Research Council has done a great job
of keeping in close contact with Thai counterparts over the years and in
exchanging information. This all culminated in the recent signing of two MOUs,
one with the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and the
other with the Thailand Research Fund(TRF). The result will be increased work
for Canadians, and more training and technology transfer for Thais. This is a
win-win situation."
Please tell us a little bit more about your relationship with the Ambassador and
your staff? "We have a very good team here. Ambassador Giroux sets out the
overall framework and direction in which he would like to go, and then we work
to achieve those objectives. Remember, I can't do this all on my own, I can be a
catalyst - but it's definitely a team effort, and we have a great team. I also
ensure that anyone who does good work gets the recognition. And I don't just
tell them and leave it at that. I tell other people what a great job staff have
done on particular issues.
What has been the key to your recent success? "Based on the 'New Approach'
of the Trade Commissioner Service, we developed a Business Plan with two goals
and six key objectives. Our first goal was to make the Bangkok Trade Section a
center of excellence in serving the Canadian business community as measured by
the Trade Commissioner's Client Survey. And eighty-two percent of those surveyed
in the latest poll said that our service had increased - the average increase
for all embassies was thirty-seven percent. Our second goal was to increase
Canada's exports from CAN$300 at the 1999, to CAN$500 at the end of 2003. We are
well on our way there now, considering that Canadian exports were up by 23% last
year, and that they have increased by a further 24% so far this year.
How has
the Bangkok Trade Section been so successful? "Shortly after I arrived
here, I arranged for the whole team to get together for a day-long brainstorming
session outside the office. I had a fairly good idea of what needed to be done,
but I also needed to get the views and support of the staff. So, we sat down
with a whiteboard and a flipchart and used a facilitator approach to come up
with our Business Plan. Some excellent suggestions came out of those
discussions, and everyone participated: Canadians, Thais, officers and support
staff. Then, after we had prepared our first draft of the Business Plan, we
invited the TCCC to come in and we said 'since you are our going to be one of
our major partners, tell us what we have missed and how we can improve our
service'. That was a very useful meeting, and it resulted in important additions
and modifications to our Plan.
Who else has helped increase our trade presence here? "Various TCCC members
such as Peter van Haren, Kiat Sittheeamorn, Pascale Prud'homme, Ron Pasternak,
Sam Cohen, Sean Brady, Karsten Westphal, Luc Metivier,
Ian Woo, Andy Burns and Saranyoo Chanate have
all helped tremendously. But I have to single out Peter, who has been
outstanding in terms of helping to advance Canada's commercial objectives in
Thailand.
“Let me
give you an example. One of the first things I had to do after arriving here in
1999 was prepare for a review of Thai trade policy issues by the World Trade
Organization (WTO). This sort of exercise happens every few years for each WTO
member. It's a way of ensuring that countries stick to their trade
liberalization commitments - that there are no undue barriers to accessing the
local market. As part of the process, the WTO invites trading partners to submit
comments regarding the targeted country. Canada had never submitted much
information for prior WTO reviews of Thailand. In fact, when we went through our
files, we could find very little in terms issues identified by Canadian
businesses.
“So, what we decided to take a pro-active approach and to sit down with the TCCC to see if there were any issues they could help to identify. People like Peter Forget of Nortel, Gary Forbes of SR Telecom and Ron Livingston of IEM provided very important sector-specific advice on some key policy issues. But over and above that, Peter van Haren helped give the submission the depth and substance that made it truly impressive. Since that time I have worked closely with Peter on a number of other important joint embassy/TCCC initiatives, always with impressive results. He is a true professional. He and other TCCC members contributed substantially to the success of the Canada-Thailand Bilateral Economic Commission (BEC) meeting in Ottawa last September."
Can you
tell us a little about the BEC and how you have tried to revitalize it?
"Well, the Canada-Thailand Bilateral Economic Commission was established in
1988 as a means to increase trade and economic ties between the two countries.
Meetings are held once every 18-24 months and they are co-chaired by senior
officials on both sides. While previous BEC meetings had succeeded in raising
Canada's profile with Thai officials, not much else had been accomplished in
recent years, and that's not surprising given the impact of the economic crisis.
However, it was also apparent that there was no major input by business
interests. In essence, the BEC provided an opportunity for officials to exchange
views. I think one thing we learned from the WTO review exercise was the
importance of input from the private sector.
“So, in
advance of last year's BEC, which was held in Ottawa, we organized a
Thailand-Canada Business Forum in Bangkok. Nothing of the sort had been held
before, so it required a lot of innovation and groundwork to establish a
steering committee, and then to plan a program, develop a participants list, and
generate interest. We established three Working Groups, one for trade promotion
in general, one for the energy & environment sectors and another
for information and communications technologies.
“Over
70 Thais and Canadians from the private and public sectors participated. Thai
private sector participants included Dr. Jingjai Hanchanlash from Loxley, Dr.
Sarasin Viraphol from CP Group and Khun Surapee Rojanavongse from the Gaysorn
Group, all of whom have been very supportive in promoting closer Thai-Canada
commercial relations. The Thai MFA and other key ministries also played
prominent roles at the meeting. As a result, we identified action plan items
that were subsequently tabled at the BEC meeting in Ottawa. It was all a
tremendous success and we plan to hold another Forum meeting in advance of the
next BEC. I believe that the next Forum meeting will be even more focused and
results-driven."
Thailand is now the fastest growing market for Canadian exports to ASEAN. This
is remarkable when you consider the past history of Canadian exports here, and
the fact that Canadian exports to every other ASEAN country have decreased. A
large part of that growth is due to Mike Ward. He has such an infectious energy
that after meeting him, you just want to go out and accomplish something. He's a
can do guy, and he's getting things done. The Canadian community owes him a debt
of gratitude for helping to energize our
mission and presence here.
Contact Info:
Tel: (662) 636-0560, ext.# 3350, 636-0540
Fax: (662) 636-0568
E-mail: mike.ward@dfait.maeci.gc.ca
Website: www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/bangkok
FINIS
