INUVIK
Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui said the territory's oil and gas industry was one of the biggest opportunities for future Chinese investment during his four-day visit.

Counsellor of the embassy and ambassador's wife Jiang Yili, left, and Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui speak with Inuvik Mayor Jim MacDonald. - photo courtesy of the GNWT/Andrew Livingstone

"I think in this area we have a huge opportunity in the future days," he said, noting that the current Chinese investment in Canada amounts to more than USD $60 billion. "In this area I think that we can do more."

The ambassador and his wife, embassy counsellor Jiang Yili, were in the territory their first time for a four-day trip after officially being invited by the premier, following a dinner in Ottawa.

During his visit from Sept. 11 to 14, Luo said Premier Bob McLeod gave him a briefing about what's going on in the oil and gas industry.

Zhaohui said he was impressed by the economic development in the territory, especially after touring the construction of the Inuvik-Tuk highway on Sept. 13 and meeting Inuvik Mayor Jim MacDonald.

"Maybe that's where China can share, can learn from the experience on your side how to help them with economic development and also how to protect the heritage," he said. "That's quite important."

Luo said that he was impressed the territory's gross domestic product rose 6.8 per cent last year.

When asked what he could do in his role as ambassador for future economic development in the territory, Luo focused his answers on how to increase Chinese tourism.

"We have a lot of official tourist agencies in China," he said. "We can encourage them to invite more people from here to China and give a promotion about the resources here, and also ask them to organize more tourism delegation to visit this place."

On the topics of infrastructure and future investments in the territory, Luo said there could be more done for the territory's natural resources - specifically, the oil and gas industry.

"Chinese companies already showed strong interest in Calgary and (British Columbia)," he said. "We know the international situation changes a lot and the markets change a lot. The Asia-Pacific area needs a huge (amount of) oil and gas in the future days. The problem here is the pipelines are usually aimed south toward the United States market. We can change that with a joint-effort and direct more pipelines toward the B.C. province with more co-operation in this area."

Luo said during his briefing about the Inuvik-Tuk highway, he learned it will offer up the opportunity for a new energy transportation route in the future.

"After the highway is complete and finished and there is a deep-sea port, we can use the new way through the Arctic Ocean and the Behring Strait and then to China," he said. "That will cut short the route and save a lot of money."

Luo said well before his visit, his knowledge about the NWT was pretty limited.

"Before I met my friend Bob, I didn't know the diamond mines were one of the major products in Canada, in the territories," he said with a grin.

Luo also said awareness about Canadian culture in China was limited to major cities and a few, rare individuals like Dr. Norman Bethune, the surgeon who brought modern medicine to rural China, and Dashan, the stage name of popular Canadian performer and media personality Mark Henry Roswell.

However, Luo said his recent trip to the NWT would affect the future work of his office.

"The Chinese embassy, we will do what we can to promote the territories," he said.

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