Asia Pacific Policy Project – Page 19 – Extractive Industry Transparency in Mongolia

Best experience ever.

Hello guys. This is Saya. (As we all japanese students use “moriken” account, I guess it would be better to state who is writing first.)
I hope everyone is doing fine.

Reflecting the memories of the program, it was definetely a great opportunity.
I was working for Labour/Environment/Development/IPR.
As Julia posted previously, our group was quite cooporative, and it allowed our articles to be creative.
Our discussion was not controversial as other teams, but I do believe that these areas are very important for both countries.
Those are global issues which both Japan and Canada have responsibilities to work for as a highly developed country.
However, the thing is when it comes to negotiation for climate change, for exmaple, it suddenly becomes a highly political issue, like which country should be included or which year sould be made a reference year.
What has been left behind is… maybe the victims currently suffered from climate change, and I think that is one of the main areas which current negotiation lacks scope.

Anyways, again it was so nice to participate in this program.
We studied a lot, met so many people from institutions, and had loads of fun!
I was so amazed how smart, active and kind the UBC students are.
I even felt sorry that we Japanese students didn’t prepare much as you did, also for my poor English skill.
But still, it was so academically-inspiring, fun experience.
I would like to say thank you for professors to make this event happen, people from institutions for giving us great advice, and Canadian students to plan this wonderful program and your friendship.
Let’s keep in touch.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Labor, Environment & Development

Executive Summary:
An FTA between two highly developed trading partners sharing common values would
open markets to new goods and services, promote competition and innovation, and
inevitably increase the flows of people. Canada and Japan stand in unity on many
issues around labour standards and environmental commitments. They also continue to work together on bilateral and multilateral development issues of human rights, security and nuclear proliferation.

Both Canada and Japan have commitments to the International Labour Organization
(ILO), but both are still in need of ratifying a number of labour standards, which are
discussed within this document. Canada needs to better address labour standards,
while Japan needs to better address gender wage gaps and equal access to employment.

WTO/GATT trade rules respect countries’ rights to adopt appropriate environmental
policies, according to their respective circumstances, to protect their own environment.
This basic principle should continue to be upheld firmly (see references). At the same
time, it should be borne in mind that protectionism in the name of environmental
protection often prevents efficient allocation of resources and destroys the mutual trust
among countries, which is necessary for stable functioning of the international trading
system, consequently damaging the prospect of attaining sustainable development in
the world.

Japan and Canada have been cooperating in many fields other than economic
liberalization. The Japan-‐‑Canada/Canada Japan Inter-‐‑Parliamentary Friendship Group meets every year. Talks between the two governments include peace and security, housing, fisheries, finance, and telecommunications. Grassroots-‐‑level exchanges are also active through such programs as the JET program and the Working Holiday programmes.