The head of the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada is calling for the creation of a single identification-card system that can be used by frequent business travellers in both North America and Asia.

If Yuen Pau Woo gets his way, the NEXUS card, now used to help Canadians and Americans cross the 49th parallel more quickly, will be expanded to Asia and added to the Asian Business Traveller Card (ABTC).

"Having ABTC as an add-on to NEXUS will greatly expand the range of countries that business people can travel to without the need for a visa," said Woo in an e-mail interview from Lima, Peru, where he was attending an APEC-sponsored (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) Pacific Rim economic summit.

"In particular, it will provide privileged access to 18 APEC-member economies without compromising the integrity of the U.S.-Canada border."

The Asia-Pacific Foundation is a national not-for-profit organization that conducts research on Asia and Canada's trans-Pacific relations, and promotes dialogue on economic, security, political and social issues to help form public policy. It's funded by Ottawa and the B.C. government.

NEXUS holders currently avoid lineups and long wait times at borders by flashing their cards through biometric-recognition technology.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection jointly administer NEXUS.

Ottawa has three years to install the infrastructure required for ABTC, which aims to speed up the flow of travellers across borders by eliminating visa requirements, increase the number of days to at least 60 that visitors can stay without a visa, and reduce customs-clearance times.

Some ABTC measures are already in place at major airports, but identification-card eligibility rules have not been finalized.

However, "there are no immediate plans to expand NEXUS," says Denise Langis, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Border Services Agency.

But, she adds, the CBSA is always interested in working with international partners to promote the benefits of such programs. The CBSA and Citizenship and Immigration Canada are working together to determine how best to administer the ABTC.

Woo said the introduction and use of NEXUS in Asia will signal that Canadian business interests need to look beyond the U.S., especially in the current economic environment.

During the summit in Peru, Woo co-ordinated a survey of about 500 APEC members that showed the U.S. financial crisis and NAFTA ranked as their top concerns. Approximately 80 percent of respondents said they expect the U.S. economy to be "much weaker" in the next 12 months, while only 12 percent expect China's economy to crash.

"A successful business strategy in the U.S. will increasingly require a parallel business strategy for Asia," Woo told Business Edge. "Linking ABTC to NEXUS underscores that point."

Canada is one of 21 countries, excluding Russia, that have signed on to the ABTC. Woo said adoption of NEXUS in Asia will solve the potential problem of having two trusted-traveller programs at the Canada-U.S. border.

Since the U.S. has also joined ABTC, said Woo, it has to create criteria for issuance of cards to Americans, as well as rules for recognizing cards issued by other APEC members.

Canada faces few bureaucratic headaches because Americans do most of the administrative work.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," says Wenran Jiang of the University of Alberta's China Institute.

He says easing cross-border flow and facilitating business are important for economic relations between Canada, China and other Asian countries. He says China already speeds clearance of passengers from APEC countries to clear customs and a NEXUS card will make the process even easier.

Jiang predicts the Chinese government will accept NEXUS.

"My gut feeling is that this will be a welcome step, simply because the Chinese are giving visas to Canadians on a much faster basis than the Canadian government is giving clearance to the Chinese side," says Jiang.

But, he adds, the Chinese government will want to ensure that people can't easily obtain a visa to Canada without properly being screened, given the case of Lai Changxing and others.

Lai, a Chinese billionaire fugitive, is living in Vancouver as his legal fight to remain in Canada continues and the Canadian government refuses to extradite him.

Former federal cabinet minister David Emerson has cited the Lai case as a cause of Canada's inability to gain approved destination status from China, which would allow more middle-class Chinese citizens to travel here.

Jiang says adopting the NEXUS card in Asia will also reduce the stress associated with customs clearance, especially after Canadians have made long trips that include transfers within Canada to Vancouver or Toronto before the overseas flight.

"Mentally, it makes things very easy if you have a designated card and move very fast," he says, Ilan Vertinsky, a University of British Columbia professor who specializes in Chinese trade, says the use of NEXUS in Asia would have "great merit, especially for business."

"(A NEXUS card) makes a huge difference (in reducing border wait times)," says Vertinsky, who has a NEXUS card of his own.

He says many Canadians are already able to use their NEXUS cards when returning from Asia and other countries outside the U.S.

"When you go through the international arrivals, you just don't go through the passport control," he says. "You look at the (NEXUS machine) that reads your retina and then you just give the filled (Canada Customs) form on the way out. You don't even have to stand in line ... It can save about half an hour to an hour at the border - this way."

Rick Erickson, a Calgary-based aviation industry analyst, heartily endorses the idea of using NEXUS in Asia because it has proved to work well.

"The word gets around pretty quickly in the frequent-flyer game, which airports are good ones to go through, which ones have problems and which are ones to avoid," says Erickson.

"Obviously, people who are frequent users of airports, moving through from Canada and the U.S., are a lot less risk than the odd-ball terrorist guy who may show up just once at the airport," he adds.

"Everything is about speed. You want to speed these people through the airport because you've looked at the risk, you've evaluated it and you assessed it, and you consider it to be very minor."

The U of A's Jiang says the Chinese government has already effectively created a "mini-NEXUS" or "semi-green card system" by granting longer visitor visas to Canadians.

But, he adds, it's easier to implement NEXUS in North America, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong than Mainland China.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)