The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Singapore held its 37th Annual General Meeting virtually, on May 27th 2021. We were pleased to confirm the appointment of our new President, Ms. Caroline Berube, Managing Partner at HJM Asia Law Co. Born and raised in Quebec City, Quebec, Caroline brings with her almost 25 years of experience in Asia. She has worked in Singapore, Bangkok, China and South Africa for British and Chinese firms prior to establishing her own firm in 2007. Caroline was also selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2015 and we are confident she will be a wonderful leader for CanCham in the year ahead!
We would also like to give our sincere thanks to outgoing President, and incoming Chairperson, David Wynne. The CanCham team were grateful to benefit from David's extensive experience as a senior Canadian trade Diplomat in Asia, as well as his success as a sustainability entrepreneur in Singapore. He also helped guide the Chamber through the unprecedented operating challenges of the global pandemic and Singapore circuit breaker. David will succeed Rohan Belliappa as Chairman, on the Executive Committee.
Alongside an already robust group of Canadian business leaders in Singapore, the CanCham Executive Committee was pleased to welcome new Executive Committee members Ms. Huijin Kong, Principal at Linhart Group, and Mr. Quentin O'Mahony, General Manger at Singapore CAE Flight Training. Both Huijin and Quentin lead organizations with strong Canadian connections, and both have outstanding individual leadership experience in Singapore and Asia. Regrettably, we also said goodbye to two highly valued Executive Committee members - Her Excellency Lynn McDonald, High Commissioner of Canada to Singapore and CanCham Honorary Chairperson, as well as Richard Dubuc, Senior Trade Commissioner at the High Commission of Canada and ex-officio CanCham Director. During their respective terms, the Canada-Singapore trade relationship reached new heights, with a series of high-level delegations and Ministerial visits going both ways, including an official visit to Singapore in 2018 by Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. Beyond the exceptional growth of the trade relationship and superb Public Affairs programming, High Commissioner McDonald and her team were also terrific in providing Consular assistance to Canadians in Singapore during the pandemic. We will miss Lynn and Richard immensely and look forward to working with their successors when they arrive later this year.
Immediately following CanCham's 37th Annual General Meeting, we hosted an Innovation and Technology event featuring a terrific line-up of all Canadian panellists. The event opened with a keynote address by H.E. Lynn McDonald, High Commissioner of Canada to Singapore, followed by industry specific presentations from Quentin O'Mahony, General Manager of Singapore CAE Flight Training, Nagesh Devata, Regional VP of Enterprise of Payoneer APAC and Pavel Bains, CEO of Bluzelle. We were pleased to have this event moderated by CanCham's incoming President, Caroline Berube, Managing Partner at HJM Asia Law Co. When panelists were asked what advice they would give to Canadian tech companies looking at Singapore and the region, we received an overwhelming response from all panellists who echoed each other with the same sentiment - get in now! You can't afford not to take a look at Singapore, with its amazing infrastructure and rule of law. It is the gateway to ASEAN and its 680 million customers.
We thank event sponsor TD for their continued support!