HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAO-11-017 - Brazil Mission1
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Staff Report
CA~sO~~e
www.kitche~terca
REPORT TO: Mayor Carl Zehr and Members of City Council
DATE OF MEETING: June 27, 2011
SUBMITTED BY: Carla Ladd, CAO
PREPARED BY: Carla Ladd, CAO
WARD(S) INVOLVED: All
DATE OF REPORT: June 23, 2011
REPORT NO.: CAO-11-017
SUBJECT: CTT Mission to Brazil
RECOMMENDATION:
That the Mayor be authorized to participate in the CTT Business Mission to Brazil in
September 2011.
BACKGROUND:
The Mayor has been invited by CTT to participate in the CTT Business Mission to Brazil. Under
Council Policy II-35, if a conference or seminar is held in a location outside of Canada or the
United States, attendance shall first be specifically approved by Council.
REPORT:
At their meeting on June 22, 2011, the Board of Directors for CTT endorsed a business mission
to Brazil as part of CTT's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) program and confirmed the dates of
the mission to occur from September 6 - 17, 2011.
Staff of CTT have continuously advised and impressed upon the Board of Directors that their
success in international business missions is significantly increased if they are accompanied by
an Elected Official and specifically a Mayor. In countries outside Canada and the United States,
Mayor's are considered as senior dignitaries and held in very high regard and as such, more
doors are opened to business and government for mission delegates. CTT has had less than
positive results on those missions where an elected official did not participate. As a result, the
Board of Directors of CTT have formally requested that the Mayors in the Region consider
participating in all international missions. In order to be responsible with public funds, the
regional Mayors agreed that only one Mayor per mission would participate and would represent
the Region as a whole.
The most recent CTT business mission was to China in May 2011 and Mayor Doug Craig
represented the Region as part of the delegation. At the recent CTT Annual Members Meeting
held on June 22, 2011, Mayor Craig spoke strongly to the value of the mission to the Region
and came away with a clear understanding of the value of a Mayor to the success of the
mission.
1
I~IT(~HEI~TE~,.
Staff Report
CA~sO~~e
www.kitche~terca
The next mission is to Brazil in September of this year. Brazil is an emerging international
market and is seen as a high potential new business opportunity for the Region and for Canada.
There is strong national interest in developing a business relationship with Brazil and CTT is
taking the opportunity to develop early relationships with them in the hopes of attracting
significant business investment to the Region. In order to increase the likelihood of a successful
outcome, they have asked Mayor Carl Zehr to accompany them as this will give the mission
group more credibility. It is particularly important in this first mission to an emerging market to
have a Mayor participate.
In order to comply with Council Policy, Council's support is being requested to allow the Mayor
to join the mission.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
Funds are available to support the Mayor and Members of Council to attend Conferences or
training opportunities.
ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Carla Ladd, CAO