Larry O’Brien

Friday evening marked the conclusion of our delegation’s visit to the City of Beijing. We spent two short but jam-packed days in back-to-back meetings with government officials and professionals from a number of hi tech industries.

As Mayor of the City of Ottawa, my first and most important responsibility is to ensure the safety and security of the City’s residents, which means ensuring access to clean drinking water, waste management, fire and police services. But I also recognize the role of the City in ensuring the prosperity of our citizens, which means creating the kind of environment in which our citizens and companies can prosper. With that focus in mind, I am pleased to report that our mission to Beijing to promote investment and partnership opportunities was extremely successful.

On Thursday of last week I announced that Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong and I had signed a Memorandum of Understanding re-committing to the principles of our original 1999 sister-city agreement.  That was just the beginning of a waterfall of successes stemming from this mission.  OCRI has now signed a new agreement with the Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau, and the Ottawa companies who are participating in this mission have had a number of successful meetings with potential customers, investors and partners. I was very pleased to see Tourism Ottawa sign a collaboration agreement with Badaling Special Zone Administration, the managers of the Great Wall of China.

The goal of our visit to Beijing was to promote partnerships in the areas of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Cleantech. For that reason, we were delighted to hear about Beijing’s commitment to building a world-class environmentally sustainable city when we visited the Beijing Urban Planning Exhibition. We met with the Beijing Energy-Saving and Environmental Protection Center where we were introduced to their impressive plans and programs for meeting the goals of the city.  During that meeting, we received confirmation that a delegation from Beijing will be traveling to Ottawa to meet with a broad range of our Cleantech companies.  This is important given the ongoing negotiations between the City of Beijing and Plasco regarding the  implementation of a waste-to-electricity facility in Beijing based on the leading-edge solution which has been developed and demonstrated in Ottawa.

Our delegation also had the privilege of attending and participating in the ICT and Cleantech Cross-Investment Seminar at Z-Park which included presentations by Canadian investment groups like Wesley Clover and Cleantech Capital. It was there that we learned of Huawei’s plans to significantly increase the number of people in their Ottawa R&D centre.

While the focus of our mission is clearly business development, it was a pleasure last evening to be hosted by Mayor Guo at a banquet where we were able to talk frankly about the role of Mayors in our two cultures and the tremendous opportunities of our bilateral relationship. As we begin to emerge from the global economic recession and move forward in a new economy, China has emerged as the key global market- 1.3 billion people, an impressive education system and strong economic growth.  Business partnerships with China will continue to become a more integral part of our economic progress both here in Ottawa and across the country.

My hope is that this mission will continue to provide opportunities to strengthen relationships, and that by working together we can further grow the prosperity of the people of both Ottawa and Beijing.

On the heels of meeting with Ambassador Mulroney and signing an MOU with Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong, today our delegation met with a number of Chinese hi tech companies at the Qinhua Science Park.

I am learning a great deal about China and our sister city, Beijing, including a number of incredible statistics that reinforce the importance of China as a place for Ottawa-based companies to pursue future opportunities.

In the afternoon, I visited the Beijing Capital Museum where I saw the traditional Chinese Archway, representative of one of the most significant cooperation projects undertaken by the cities of Beijing and Ottawa. I met with artisans and senior officials who have been involved in designing Ottawa’s Chinatown Gateway, some of who will be traveling to Ottawa to assist Canadian workers in assembling the beautiful architectural landmark.

I held a productive meeting with the China Association of Mayors, where we discussed our mutual priorities and desire for continued cooperation.

As the company representatives continue their meetings with Chinese organizations, including Plasco’s meeting with the China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation, I am looking very forward to the opportunities that we will discover for the citizens and businesses of Ottawa and Beijing alike.

Photos from the first days of the mission can be found here.

Today, Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong and I signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Continuing Cooperation between the City of Ottawa and the Municipality of Beijing.

In 1999, Ottawa and Beijing entered into a sister city agreement that pledged to promote cooperation between the two great cities in the areas of environmental protection, municipal administration, technology, and tourism.

The relationship between the capital cities has continued to provide mutual benefits and our continued cooperation has allowed for a fruitful exchange of ideas, commerce and culture.

By way of the MOU signed today, we have pledged to continue the principles of the original 1999 cooperation agreement and to continue to expand the friendship and economic cooperation between the two cities.

I am currently leading a business delegation from Ottawa to the Chinese cities of Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The mission, coordinated by OCRI, the city’s lead economic development agency, will strengthen existing relationships and further establish Ottawa as a valuable strategic partner.

Today, I am honoured to proclaim April 5th, 2010 as Kristina Groves Day in the City of Ottawa in honour of Kristina Groves, our very own Olympic speedskating medallist.

Kristina grew up in Ottawa, skating with the Ottawa Pacers speedskating club.  Kristina told me that, even when she was very young, she always wanted to compete in the Olympics. She has now achieved that dream three times and continues to amaze and inspire the citizens of Ottawa and all of Canada with her achievements.

Kristina won silver and bronze medals in long-track speedskating at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver in February and won a gold medal in the women’s 1,500-metre race, and silver overall, at the World Allround Speedskating Championships two weeks ago. Before all this, Kristina also won two silver medals at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics.

Kristina is an inspiration to all our residents, particularly for our youth, who can learn from Kristina’s determination, focus, and drive for excellence. On behalf of Council and all the residents of Ottawa, I wish Kristina all the best in her future endeavours.

Welcome home and congratulations, Kristina.