Alberta businesses will be strutting their products and services on an international stage at the coming G8 summit in Kananaskis Country – but won’t get the same red-carpet treatment as corporations who paid upwards of a half-million dollars to gain access to events at last spring’s Summit of the Americas in Quebec.
“We’re changing the ap-proach a bit from what’s been done in previous summits, where there (were) often cash donations from companies in exchange for perhaps an invitation to a dinner,” says John Klassen, executive director of the Summit Management Office (SMO).
In Quebec, a corporate “access for cash” program allowed several businesses privileged access to 34 heads of government and hundreds of senior executives by paying millions of dollars to sponsor events and have their logos and websites prominently displayed.
Klassen said his office will instead be launching a partnership program with companies who wish to become involved as suppliers to the summit, to be held next June 26-28.
“We’re still in early days in terms of some of our planning in how exactly to structure this partnership idea.
“But when we do go out and look for people who might want to sponsor the delegate bags, or the lanyards you wear for badges, we will look to local companies first.”
Klassen invites Alberta businesses interested in getting involved in the G8 to contact Peter Levick in the SMO, which has offices in Calgary and Ottawa, or to visit the official website at www.g8.gc.ca.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s point man for the K-Country summit was in Calgary last week to explain to local business leaders how the international event will be handled in the post-Sept. 11 security climate.
Ambassador Robert Fowler told a luncheon at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce that the international campaign against terrorism “will un-doubtably be a very significant part of the Kananaskis agenda.”
As well as usual work of protecting participants and ensuring public order, the joint Calgary Police Service-RCMP security team will “ensure that nobody is able to use this event as an opportunity for destruction and terrorism,” he said. Fowler says has has received “extraordinary” co-operation from Albertans in the early stages of preparing for the summit.
And while the corporate community’s involvement in the meeting will be minimal, he added: “I know the prime minister will want to keep his finger on the pulse of what the corporate sector thinks is the best solution to slowing growth and to stimulating growth and to restoring world economic health.
“I would anticipate he’ll be meeting with corporate leaders individually and probably through associations in the lead-up to the meetings.”
During his visit to Calgary, Fowler met privately with several business leaders and their security representatives, as well as board members from the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.
According to the SMO, a recent study shows the Summit of the Americas brought $133 million in economic spinoffs to Canada, including more than $123 million spent directly in Quebec.
Fowler underscored the need for G8 nations – an informal group of eight developed democracies including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – to pay closer attention to the needs of developing countries.
“Post-Sept. 11, surely we have learned that it is not smart to leave any significant parts of the world, significant populations, ethnic or religious groups, to spiral into desperation and isolation,” he said.
So, despite the heightened tensions over the growing war against terrorism, the theme of this year’s G8 will focus on the New African Initiative, a plan first introduced by a delegation of African leaders at last summer’s Genoa Summit to address the social, political and economic challenges faced by the people of their continent.
Chretien has named Fowler as his personal representative for Africa, and charged him with developing an action plan to support the implementation of these issues.
“An important part of the discussion will be to ensure that growth is truly global, and that no part of the world is excluded from its benefits,” Fowler said.
If Africa is to extract itself from this downward negative spiral, he added, it has to do so itself, and G8 countries agree that no amount of developmental assistance alone will “fix” the problem.
Sustainable growth, trade incentives and a system of financial and political governance that will attract investment to the continent, are all key objectives, he said.
