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Canada-Mexico Webinar: An Opportunity to Invest and Do Business
March 24, 2023 @ 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Friday March 24, 2023
8:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Pacific Standard Time, Vancouver)
Are you an entrepreneur or executive in private or public sector looking to promote and develop trade and investment opportunities either in Canada or Mexico?
Join us on March 24th for an exclusive virtual business event where we’ll be discussing the trade and investment opportunities in both countries.
The NAFTA agreement and now the CUSMCA (also referred to as USMCA or T-MEC) have strengthened Canada-Mexico trade relations for more than 25 years, but there remains significant potential for growth in the business sector. So this event aims to provide information and facilitate fruitful dialogues and cooperation on business and investment opportunities in both countries that can be explored for Mexican and Canadian companies.
This four-hour webinar will be divided in two main sections. The first two hours we will talk about the business and investment opportunities in Mexico, and in the second part, presentations will similarly talk about the opportunities in Canada. Nonetheless, we encourage all the attendees to participate in the entire webinar.
FEATURED SPEAKERS AND PANELISTS
Jacqueline Marquez
Minister Representative for Trade and Investment
Office of the Mexican Ministry of Economy in Canada
In July 2019, Márquez began her appointment as Minister Representative for Trade and Investment at the office of the Mexican Ministry of Economy in Canada. Previously, she held senior appointments within the Mexican Ministry of Economy as Director of Legal Affairs for both Foreign Investment and the National Foreign Investment Commission.
She also represented the Mexican government before the Investment Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and functioned as an interlocutor before World Bank Group agencies to attract and retain foreign investment in Mexico. For the CUSMA and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Ms. Márquez was part of the negotiating team. She was a lead negotiator in various Investment Agreements, with countries in Europe, Asia and America and has participated in multiple negotiations since 2000.
At the Faculty of Law of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Ms. Marquez has taught foreign investment classes at various universities in Mexico since 2007. She is a member of the College of Foreign Trade Professors and the Ottawa Advisory Council of Laurier University of Waterloo, Ontario. She has participated in numerous conferences and given seminars in Mexico and abroad on the national and international legal framework for foreign investment.
Ms. Marquez is a lawyer with a Master’s Degree and graduated with honors with a specialty in Foreign Trade Law from the UNAM Faculty of Law.
Enrique Zorilla
President
Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico (CanChamMX)
Enrique Zorrilla served as a seasoned banking executive with over three decades of experience in the financial services industry. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President and Country Head of Mexico at Scotiabank, he was responsible for overseeing all personal, small business, and commercial banking operations in Mexico.
Zorilla’s extensive career in the banking industry includes having worked at Banco Nacional de México, S.A. (Citi Banamex), where he held a range of leadership roles. During his tenure at Citi Banamex, Zorrilla was a member of the Citigroup Senior Leadership Committee and served on the board of directors of Seguros Banamex, Afore Banamex, and Crédito Familiar. He was also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Buró de Crédito and Soriban Servicios Financieros.
Enrique Zorilla holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Universidad Iberoamericana, a Certified Public Accounting Degree from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School in Chicago. His professional excellence has been recognized with the “Dr. Agustin Reyes Ponce” Award in 2011
Anita Huberman
President and CEO
Surrey Board of Trade
Anita Huberman is a well-respected and accomplished leader, serving as the President & CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade for 17 years. She has been with the organization for 30 years and leads a team that serves over 6,000 members. Anita’s impressive record of community service includes numerous appointments, including as an Honorary Captain of the Royal Canadian Navy, and she has received several awards and medals for her contributions to the community.
Anita is a highly visible advocate for Canadian businesses and is known for her ability to instigate change at all levels of government. She is responsible for delivering Surrey’s first Labour Market Study and Workforce Strategy till 2029, and her team brings new initiatives to benefit their members, city, and nation.
Anita’s leadership and fiscal strength have helped the Surrey Board of Trade weather the challenges of the pandemic, and they continue to be Surrey’s city-building business organization. The organization has been recognized as one of the top three in Canada for government advocacy, and Anita is a recognized voice of business who speaks for the community at public hearings and to the media.
Jorge A. Rave
Chief Representative in Mexico
Export Development Canada
Jorge A. Rave was appointed Chief Representative (Coun-try Head) for Mexico in 2018, where he lives with his wife and two teenage children. Since joining EDC in 2008, Jorge has consistently taken on positions of increasing scope and responsibility with special focus on Latin America. Jorge has 20 years of professional experience working in international affairs with public and private sector organizations.
His professional background also includes conducting academic research and participating in humanitarian and economic development projects in Latin America, Europe and Canada. Jorge is a regular speaker at international finance and trade conferences and a frequent author of articles on international trade. Jorge holds a degree from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) in Colombia. He also has a master’s degree in International Relations from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), and a Post-Graduate Diploma (PGDip) in Strategy and Innovation from Oxford University.
Having immigrated to Canada in the early 2000s and lived in five different countries, Jorge is passionate about ID&E issues and volunteers as a mentor with the Canadian International Council (CIC), his alma mater UQAM and EDC’s Coaching & Mentoring Community. Jorge is also an active member of EDC’s Black Employee Resource Group as an ally and of the Board of the Latin+ ERG.
Rafael Lugo
Senior Investment Officer
Embassy of Canada in Mexico
Ruben joined the Trade Commissioner Service in August 2019 where he leads the foreign direct investment attraction portfolio in Mexico. Prior to his current role, Ruben was the Mexico Investment Specialist at Select USA, the investment promotion arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Ruben has worked for the Organization of American States, the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia and the Government of the State of Sonora in Mexico. In the private sector, he held positions in private firms in the United States and Mexico. Ruben holds a BA in International Business from Rennes School of Business in France, and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the School of Global Policy and Strategy at University of California San Diego.
Andres Friedman
Co-Founder & CEO
Solfium
Andres Friedman is the CEO and co-founder of Solfium, a Canadian-Mexican solar startup dedicated to increasing the distribution of solar energy as a source of electricity. With a background in business and an executive master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Friedman brings a wealth of experience to the company.
Along with his co-founders Juan Osuna and Zach Magnan, Friedman was inspired to make solar power more accessible to a wider audience. The team is focused on small-scale projects for residential and commercial applications, starting with Mexico as its launch market due to its low solar penetration.
Friedman believes that the slow adoption of solar power can be attributed to traditional business models, and Solfium aims to accelerate its growth through a user-friendly customer experience. With the goal of making solar energy a more normalized source of electricity, Andres Friedman and his team are making a positive impact on the environment and the planet.
Rahim Bhaloo
Founder & Executive Chairman
JOI Canadian Stores
Mr. Bhaloo is a life-long entrepreneur who started his business career in the specialty coffee space with brands known as Second Cup and Lettieri Espresso Bar and Cafe’s (single largest franchisee by 23 years old).
Developed a portfolio of retirement and nursing homes in Canada, partnering with CDPQ and then selling to a publicly traded company.
Mr. Bhaloo oversees PesoRama’s capital requirements, shareholder communications, and strategic partnerships while he works with management to accelerate the growth of the company.
Andres Abogado
Managing Partner
Abolaw
Andrés is a lawyer in Mexico and Canada and the managing partner of Abolaw, a law firm with offices in Vancouver and Mexico. He holds an LL.B in Mexican Law, a Juris Doctor equivalent issued by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and a Masters of Law from the University of British Columbia, with a specialization in international law. He also acts in a notarial capacity in Canada.
He practices in the areas of international corporate law, business immigration, trade, and international law with an emphasis on foreign investment, real estate developments and regulatory compliance both in Mexico and Canada and Latin American countries.
Andrés has acted as counsel on a wide variety of matters, such as drafting and settlements of international contracts, business immigration applications, regulatory compliance, and complex agreements between Méxican, Canadian, and Latin American companies. He has also acted as counsel for individuals both in the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court of British Columbia in the application and interpretation of international treaties and legal remedies for Mexican investors.
Javier Barajas
Senior Advisor
Cobalt Strategy Group
Javier Barajas has spent 30 years building international business bridges, particularly with Mexico and Latin America and globally as part of the Mexican Global Network. As Community Leader and Advocate his focused has being in providing empowerment to organizations, non-profit and non-partisan associations, and in a variety of communities representing a wide range of causes.
Javier Barajas commitment to Latino community investment has positioned him on a diversity of executive roles in the community, in the cities where he lives and at International Associations; most of them dedicated to the improvement of the Latino, especially the Mexican community in Canada and USA. Strengthening ties between Latin countries in Canada and the USA, Javier Barajas community involvement, business initiatives and profesional leadership has positioning him as an expert on cultural bridge builder and avid business networker as result to have the experience of living in 3 different countries (Mexico, USA and Canada).
Hector Chaparro
CEO
Canada Latin Channel
Hector Chaparro is a Mexican-Canadian bilingual video-journalist with over 20 years of experience in the television industry, including a recent position as an ENG Photographer at Global News in Calgary, Alberta. With a passion for storytelling, this seasoned professional began their career in Juarez, Mexico as a Camera Man and Cultural-Entertainment Journalist, working for prestigious networks such as Chanel 5, Chanel 44 affiliated to Azteca TV, and Chanel 56 affiliated to Televisa.
Throughout his career, Chaparro has consistently demonstrated his ability to create compelling content that resonates with diverse audiences. As a former Liaison Officer at the Consulate of Mexico in Calgary, Chaparro also brings a unique perspective to cross-cultural communication.
Whether speaking about the art of storytelling or sharing their personal experiences as a bilingual journalist working in different countries, Chaparro is sure to inspire and captivate a diverse audience.
Laura Ochoa
Founder and President
Exportlogic
Mexico-Canada investment and trade promoter. Laura Ochoa has accompanied several Canadian companies in their implementation projects, creating hundreds of jobs in Mexico. Each project has been established within a framework of gender equality, social responsibility and respect for the environment.
Founder of Exportlogic, a consultancy and project management company. Laura Ochoa is passionate about a sustainable economy, community growth and respect for the environment.
For several years she held various functions in non-profit organizations, among others as president of Affaires Internationales au Féminin and of the Global Network of Mexicans in Montreal. She was also a member of the international committee of HEC Montreal. Laura strongly believes that both individuals and not-for-profit organizations can make a difference for the environment and our community.
Juan Navarro
Director & Principal Researcher
CMX Partnerships
Juan Navarro is an accomplished researcher, entrepreneur and strategic leader with over 20 years of combined experience in business, finance, economics and international trade, currently serving as the Director and Principal Researcher at CMX Partnerships. As a researcher, his reports on trade and investment issues in the context of Free Trade Agreements have been published by leading universities, research centers and global organizations such as the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada, the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), among others.
He has served as a speaker in international business gatherings in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, The United States and Chile, encouraged the construction of collaborative agreements between Canadian companies and counterparts abroad. Navarro has organized and led trade missions and business conferences. Before moving to Canada, Navarro served for 10 years as an economist at the Mexican Central Bank conducting economic analyses and doing external relations.
Navarro has been extensively involved in industry associations, serving as a member of the Advisory Board of the Free Trade Zone initiative with the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance since 2016, contributing to the World Bank Institute, and mentoring young Canadian entrepreneurs with Futurpreneur Canada. He is an active member of the Canadian International Council (CIC), the Forum for International Trade Training (FITT) and different business organizations promoting trade and economic development.
The Canada-Mexico webinar is organized by CMX Partnerships with the valuable support of private and public companies from both countries. CMX Partnerships is a company proudly located in British Columbia, which promotes trade and investment opportunities through business initiatives including trade missions and research projects. CMX Partnerships sees this webinar as a space strategically relevant due to the solid relationship between both countries and the recent North American Summit. CMX Partnerships is convinced of the high potential for a mutually beneficial outcome as a result of deepened ties.
We are pleased to offer a live transcription service during our Canada-Mexico Webinar, providing real-time translation between Spanish and English for our attendees. This service ensures that our bilingual audience members can fully participate and engage with our distinguished speakers.
We are proud to announce Tomlinson Translations as the official translator for our March 24th webinar event!