Matching Korea’s growth with Canadian tech

Ambassador will fuel energy ties, promote green sector, beef, FTA


A new face is heading the Canadian Embassy and with recent arrival, David Chatterson, is bringing Canada’s image of a clean country to the relationship.

The driving force for the relationship between the countries lies in Korea’s economic growth and Canada’s richness in high-end technology and resources.

“I’m a policy guy who wants to promote people-to-people exchanges,” said the ambassador.

Chatterson first came to Korea in 1982 while working for the Canadian tax authority and has been back several times. The thing that struck him most in his decade-long absence was the wealth the country has amassed.

“There is greater confidence here. Seoul has become a really beautiful city. The (Han) river is a lot more prominent now than before,” he said during his first interview with the Korean press.

Chatterson also noticed a difference in the air quality of the city, which welcomes almost half the country’s population every workday.

“There were all kinds of carbon particulates coming out (of the diesel buses) and you can see this cloud of black and everything had an oily black film to it,” he recalled.

“Now, the cars and buses are clean, I just saw a hybrid vehicle today made by Hyundai, so in terms of change, Korea has probably done more than any country in the world.”

Working for environment

Canada has a strong reputation for being clean and green. Its environmental practices have been heralded around the world.

The Korean government has been looking worldwide for partners to develop new methods to combat climate change.

The ambassador plans to emphasize strengths in both countries that can complement each other and build their profiles as world experts in renewable energy.

Samsung and its partners recently invested $7 billion in the province of Ontario to create the largest cluster of wind and solar power in the world.

The plan will create 16,000 jobs, kick-start a new industry in Ontario and generate enough electricity to power 600,000 Ontario homes.

“What I’d like to do is shine a light on the opportunities and on the two countries,” he said.

Fueling the investment fire

Canada is richly endowed with increasingly in-demand resources. It offers an open business system, excellent infrastructure and one of the highest levels of security for investments.

“All of which makes our resource sector very attractive to investment and makes supplies very attractive for purchasers. We are seeing higher than ever sales in coal, uranium, potash, ore, soon in energy. These are all basic resources that will continue to grow,” he noted.

The most promising sector so far is in energy.

Canada is one of the top 5 gas producing countries but does not export much due to internal consumption.

Korea’s relationship with Canada’s energy sector started roughly 30 years ago with the building of Korea’s first four nuclear energy reactors, which still help power its economy.

“The beauty of the CANDU reactors is that it uses heavy water so it can’t blow up. Plus it also does not produce plutonium. It’s a very Canadian thing, but it costs a little bit more,” he said.

Other opportunities Chatterson sees are in areas such as research and development in the gaming industry.

Chatterson would like to team up with firms to explore new avenues of cooperation, especially with the advancement of smartphone technologies.

“We are big in a lot of niches,” he said, pointing toward its cultural performances that keep entertaining Koreans, such as films and Cirque du Soleil.

“You don’t think of that as trade, but it’s very much clean trade and it’s Canada sharing our values, our soul and who we are.”

Issues with beef, FTA

While relations between the two countries are excellent, two sticky issues are currently being worked on.

The beef issue has placed a giant question mark over the trade relationship between the two countries, but Chatterson believes that by the end of the year, local stores will be providing one of Canada’s most important agricultural exports.

“I look forward to hosting a barbecue of delicious Canadian beef,” he said.

“Canadian beef is typically of higher quality, it’s in the top quarter of the market. Aberdeen Angus is great beef cattle and we also feed it grain and it’s that grain that gives it the taste,” he said.

The ministry will halt imports if another case of BSE breaks out in Canada. In that event a veterinary inspection council will establish if Canadian beef is a threat to health and safety and decide whether to suspend imports from the country.

To make sure that no problems arise in the future, Canada plans to keep testing its cattle.

Then there are the free trade agreement talks which have been on hiatus for two years. The areas of contention on both sides remain beef, pork and automobiles.

“We largely reached common views on everything else but trade negotiations are done in a way that nothing is decided until everything is decided,” he said.

By Yoav Cerralbo (yoav@heraldcorp.com)