Premier touts traditional foods on trade mission to Asia

DENISE RIDEOUT

IQALUIT — Nunavut leaders showed off some of the North’s finest foods in China recently in hopes of signing some lucrative business deals with that country.

Arctic char, musk-ox, shrimp and caribou were on display in several Chinese cities during premier Paul Okalik’s visit to the Asian country.

Okalik, along with deputy premier Kelvin Ng and some Nunavut government bureaucrats, were part of a Canadian trade mission to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

During the nine-day mission, known as Team Canada 2001, Canadian premiers looked for new business opportunities for their respective provinces and territories. Business leaders also joined the trip in search of untapped markets for their products.

Traditional foods

In Nunavut’s case, the spotlight was on the territory’s traditional foods. Okalik said an official from the Sustainable Development department promoted the food to business people in China. Samples of char and shrimp, as well as caribou and musk-ox meat, were offered to some businesses for a taste test.

“There was quite a bit of interest expressed by the businesses that tried those samples,” Okalik said.

A business partnership already exists between the eastern Arctic and some companies in China, which buy shrimp from Nunavut. The premier said the territory is looking to increase the amount of shrimp it sells there.

Still, Nunavut came away from the trade mission without any concrete business deals in hand. Some provinces had a little more success.

According to a news release from the prime minister’s office, businesses from Quebec, B.C. and Ontario signed lucrative deals, while others entered into agreements about potential contracts. For example, Bombardier Aerospace of Dorval, Que. signed a $210-million deal with China Yunnan Airlines for six regional jets.

As well, high-tech giant Nortel Networks landed a multi-million dollar contract to provide networking hardware to a Hong Kong technology company.

Okalik isn’t deterred by those successes. Rather, he came back from the trade mission optimistic, saying Nunavut made a lot of headway towards signing future business contracts. “It’s more like prospects right now, but they are very promising,” he said in an interview after returning to Iqaluit.

Inner Mongolia?

One positive initiative that came out of the China trip was the potential for a partnership between Nunavut and Inner Mongolia, a vast territory in northern China.

While in China, Okalik spoke to officials about becoming a “twin” territory with Inner Mongolia, whereby both regions would promote each other’s commodities and businesses.

“Hopefully in the next year we will get that completed and it will open up the door for Nunavut,” he said.

Now that he’s back in Nunavut, the premier will continue his discussions with Inner Mongolian officials. His department will also follow up on any potential contracts for Nunavut businesses. Okalik said with more than one billion people in China, Nunavut will likely find a market for its goods.