The CPTPP: One Year Later

The High Commission of Canada in Singapore, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the Singapore Business Federation cordially invite you to join us for this important CPTPP briefing.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a free trade agreement between 11 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.  

Fully implemented, the CPTPP represents:

• 495 million consumers
• 14% of the global economy
• Combined GDP of approximately $13 trillion

During this event, we will hear from CPTPP experts on why the agreement is important to your business and how you can start implementing and taking advantage of its benefits! Learn how to help your business grow in Asia-Pacific by maximising the potential of CPTPP!

Time: 6:30pm-9:00pm 

Location: Four Seasons Hotel Singapore, Ballroom B, 190 Orchard Boulevard 

Cost: $25 Members (AustCham, CABC, CANsg, High Commission of Canada, JCCI, LatAmCham, NZ Chamber, SICC, SBF and VietCham); $45 for Non-Members

Guest Speakers: 

Dr. Deborah Elms 

Executive Director, Asian Trade Centre 

Jay Allen 

Executive Director, Trade Policy Negotiations - Asia, Global Affairs Canada  

Panellists:

Elizabeth Chelliah 

Principal Trade Specialist, Ministry of Trade and Industry

H.E. Jo Tyndall

New Zealand High Commissioner to Singapore

Locknie Hsu

Professor of Law, SMU School of Law

Moderator: 

H.E. Lynn McDonald 

High Commissioner of Canada to Singapore

Event Programme: 

6:30pm - Registration and Networking Reception 

7:00pm – Welcome remarks from David Wynne, President of CanCham 

7:05pm- – Overview of CPTPP by Jay Allen, Executive Director, Trade Policy Negotiations - Asia, Global Affairs Canada 

7:20pm – Overview of the CPTPP by Dr. Deborah Elms, Executive Director, Asian Trade Centre 

7:45pm – Panel discussion moderated by H.E. Lynn McDonald, High Commissioner of Canada to Singapore 

8:30pm – Closing remarks from David Wynne, President of CanCham 

8:32pm – Networking Reception

9:00pm - Event close

Speakers' Profiles:

Dr. Deborah Elms, Executive Director, Asian Trade Centre

Deborah Elms is the Executive Director of the Asian Trade Centre in Singapore. She is also the Vice-Chair of the Advisory Board of the Asia Business Trade Association and the Board Director of the Asian Trade Centre Foundation. 

Dr. Elms is also Vice Chair of the Asia Business Trade Association (ABTA). She sits on the International Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Trade Professionals Alliance and is Chair of the Working Group on Trade Policy and Law. She is also a senior fellow in the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Trade Academy. Prior to that, she was head of the Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade & Negotiations (TFCTN) and Senior fellow of International Political Economy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 

Her current research involves the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and E-commerce, Digital Trade and Global Value Chains. 

She has provided consulting and training on a range of trade issues to governments including the ASEAN countries, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, European Union, United Kingdom, United States, Canada and the Pacific Alliance. 

Dr. Elms received a PhD in political science from the University of Washington, a MA in International Relations from the University of Southern California, and bachelor’s degrees from Boston University. 

Deborah publishes the Talking Trade Blog www.asiantradecentre.org/talkingtrade 

Elizabeth Chelliah, Principal Trade Specialist, Ministry of Trade and Industry

Elizabeth Chelliah is the Principal Trade Specialist (PTS) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) as well as Head (Academic Branch) of the MTI Trade Academy. As PTS, Ms Chelliah stewards the building and institutionalising of expertise amongst MTI Trade officers focussing on WTO and FTA rules by providing guidance and advice on a range of WTO and FTA matters, trade facilitation connectivity and other internationalisation strategies and levers. 

As Head of the Academic Branch of the MTI Trade Academy, besides developing relevant trade related training modules for government and public officers, Ms Chelliah also coaches officers on WTO, ASEAN and APEC issues as well as providing thought leadership via speaking engagements at various forums. From 2018 this expanded to cover FTA training and related issues for business, professionals and the public sector. 

Ms Chelliah has been a WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) panel member of four WTO disputes namely Textiles Rules of Origin between India and the US; the EC Chicken Cuts classification dispute between Brazil, Thailand and the EC, the dolphin safe tuna labelling case between the US and Mexico and the dispute between EU, Canada and Norway on Seals. 

Prior to her appointment as PTS, Ms Chelliah was the Deputy Director overseeing Singapore’s policies relating to all trade in goods matters at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). From 2006 to 2011 she was involved in APEC and was the Chair of the Committee for Trade and Investment (CTI) from 2008-2010. During that tenure she was involved in developing what is now known as the APEC Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) agenda. 

Ms Chelliah has been involved in FTA negotiations since 2002. She has been the lead Goods negotiator in Singapore’s bilateral FTAs with EFTA, China, Korea, EU, Chinese Taipei as well as ASEAN-China FTA (2002 to 2006) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). She was Singapore’s Chief Negotiator for the Singapore-Peru FTA and is Chief Negotiator for the ongoing review of the Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). From October 2017 Ms Chelliah took over as Chair of the RCEP Intellectual Property Working Group. 

Jay Allen, Executive Director, Trade Policy and Negotiations - Asia, Global Affairs Canada

Jay Allen is Executive Director for the Trade Policy and Negotiations – Asia Division at Global Affairs Canada. In this role, he is responsible for Canada’s trade policy in Asia generally, with specific responsibilities including China, Japan, Korea and ASEAN. As Canada’s Deputy Senior Official for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), he is responsible for managing the negotiation and implementation of the Agreement. Jay has worked on Canada’s trade negotiations since 2008, including as Canada’s lead financial services negotiator, Director for Technical Barriers and Regulations, and most recently as Director for the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Division at Global Affairs Canada. Prior to international trade, Jay’s work focused on legal policy development in corporate and insolvency law. He served as a Senior Project Manager responsible for legislative reform of Canada’s insolvency system for Industry Canada from 1998 to 2006, and managed insolvency-related technical assistance projects for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as the Bank’s Insolvency Counsel in 2006 and 2007. A lawyer by training, Jay holds a Doctor of Law (JD) from the University of Windsor.

H.E. Jo Tyndall, New Zealand High Commissioner to Singapore

Jo Tyndall was most recently New Zealand’s Climate Change Ambassador. From 2016 to December 2018, she also co-chaired the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA). As Climate Change Ambassador, she was head of delegation to the United Nations climate negotiations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from July 2010 to March 2016. 

From 2014 -2015, she held a Vice President position on the Bureau of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, representing the regional grouping of Western European and Other States. 

Prior to her role as Climate Change Ambassador, Ms Tyndall was Director of the Broadcasting Unit in the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. From 1999 to 2006, she was Chief Executive of the broadcasting funding body, NZ On Air. She has also served as Chief Executive of two screen industry organisations - the Screen Production and Development Association (SPADA) and Project Blue Sky (1994 to 1999). 

Ms Tyndall began her career as a multilateral trade policy specialist with the Department of Trade and Industry and subsequently the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 

Locknie Hsu, Professor of Law, SMU School of Law 

Locknie Hsu is a full Professor of Law at the School of Law, Singapore Management University. She received her legal training at the National University of Singapore and Harvard   University, and is a member of the Singapore Bar. She has received several   teaching awards and in 2017, she was conferred the Outstanding Service Award by the ASEAN Law Association (ALA), in which she is Coordinator of the Trade and Investment Group. She was attached to Singapore’s Ministry of Trade & Industry for a period, to participate in free trade agreement negotiations, before returning to academia.

Locknie specializes in international trade and investment law, including areas such as free trade agreements, trade facilitation,   e-commerce, investment dispute settlement and developments relating to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

In March 2018, the Final Report in a research project led by Locknie, on “Improving Connectivity Between ASEAN’s Legal Systems to Address Commercial Issues” - containing recommendations on issues ranging from ASEAN trade and investment barriers to e-commerce in ASEAN – was published.

Locknie is a member of the International Law Association and a member of the Singapore Executive Council of the ASEAN Law Association.

H.E. Lynn McDonald, High Commissioner of Canada to Singapore

Lynn McDonald (BA, Trinity College, University of Toronto; LL.B, University of Toronto) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1996.

After working in both the Legal and Trade Policy Bureaux of DFAIT from 1996-1999, she took up a position as Legal Advisor to Canada’s Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland from 1999-2002.

From 2005-2009, she served as Counsellor and Head of the Trade Policy Section at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C., USA.

Ms. McDonald was Director of the Intellectual Property Trade Policy Division at Global Affairs Canada headquarters from 2011-2014.

In 2014, she became Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner at the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao.

Ms. McDonald was appointed as High Commissioner to Singapore in 2016.

We are grateful to supporting partners:

• AustCham
• Canada-ASEAN Business Council
• CANsg
• Japan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Singapore
• LatAmCham
• New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Singapore
• Singapore International Chamber of Commerce
• VietCham Singapore