By Julia Bentley, Distinguished Fellow, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
On October 22, 2024, the York Centre for Asian Research’s (YCAR) Canada-ASEAN Initiatives program brought stakeholders together in Ottawa from the Canadian federal government and the diplomatic, business, and academic communities to discuss how to promote government and industry collaboration to strengthen economic security and resilience between Canada and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The event was hosted by the University of Ottawa’s Telfer Management School Executive MBA Program, with support from the ASEAN Committee of Ottawa, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, Export Development Canada, Manulife, and Global Affairs Canada.
The symposium was the third multi-sector event in Ottawa organized by YCAR’s Canada-ASEAN Initiatives program. The first, in October 2023, focused on economic co-operation, and the second, in May 2024, focused on regional security. This fall 2024 symposium spotlighted Canadian and Asian perceptions of the imperatives of closer government-industry collaboration and the importance of considering how Canada can meet Southeast Asia’s needs in terms of food, energy, and environmental security and how it can help ensure reliable supply chains, as advocated in the recent ASEAN-Canada Joint Leaders Statement on Enhancing ASEAN Connectivity and Resilience.
Please click here for the highlights from the discussions.
Author Julia G. Bentley is a Distinguished Fellow of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and an External Research Associate of the York Centre for Asian Research. She produced this summary in consultation with Julie Nguyen, Chair of the Canada-ASEAN Initiatives at York University, with whom she co-organized the symposium. She also served as a moderator and gave closing remarks at the symposium. Edited by Erin Williams, Senior Program Manager, APF Canada.
Photo by Zhe Ming Sim, PhD candidate in Political Science at York University.