Chris’ particular brief in her work is the Asian section, especially

M: Tonight we have Chris Davenport with us in the studio. Welcome to the program, Chris.
W: Thank you, Pat.
M: Now, Chris, you’ve been working for the Canadian Export Agency for three years now.
W: Yes, that’s right.
M: And what does your job involve?
W: Well, my particular brief is the Asian section—especially Japan and China. Now, we work with Canadian firms explaining how they can start up or develop their export trade in these countries. One of my main responsibilities is to set up trade fairs so that our companies can exhibit their goods in these other countries. We’d organize between two and three trade fairs in these regions each year, as you can see, I do a lot of organizing and a lot of travelling.
M: Right. Sounds like a very demanding job. How do you cope with the pressures?
W: Well, at first I didn’t. It was very difficult because there were so many new things to learn and I found especially that negotiating was the hardest. It was something that didn’t come to me naturally, but you get used to it.
M: What’s the secret?
W: Well, you have to be organized, especially well organized, but it does help of course that we’re part of a team and when the going gets rough we give each other a lot of support and help each other out. That’s important. I’ve just recently come back from Beijing where we sponsored an electronics fair there. We had a total of fifty five stands and we had over two hundred thousand visitors.
M: Two hundred thousand! Wow!
W: It was very successful but it did represent twelve months of really intensive preparation. Well, it does vary a lot. Beijing—twelve months—was a particularly large trade fair and it did take that kind of time. But some of our smaller fairs, Canton for example, we had a small computing exhibition there in 1989. That took five months of planning. As a general rule, it takes about six months. That’s not a hard and fast rule, but basically about six months, depending on the kind of product being exhibited, the network of contacts we already have in the host country, the location, things like that.
M: Right. Sounds like an exciting job.
W: Yes. People say "Oh, all that lovely travel abroad". And travel abroad’s terrific in a holiday, but this is not holiday—it’s work. I also work on the plane of course, catching up on paperwork, things like that. Then when we arrive at the destination, my first responsibility is to meet with the government officials in the host country. We used to meet in our offices in the embassy or in their departmental offices but we found it much more comfortable for everyone to meet in informal places. People just seem to be more relaxed and it’s better for negotiations. Amongst my other tasks, I arrange accommodation for exhibitors, I organize for interpreters, and I help out on the legal side. So I guess that makes me partly international lawyer and partly tour guide. It’s hard work but rewarding.
M: Right. So, you mentioned law. Did you study law at college?
W: Yes, I did. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Studies. I haven’t actually practiced as a lawyer. Before I went to college, my parents wanted me to be a doctor but—well—my grades weren’t good enough, so I sort of found my way into law. I think that’s for the best because I can’t stand blood! Well, now in my work, I don’t use my law studies directly but the legal knowledge has proved very important, especially in negotiations between the Canadian firms and clients in China or Japan. Often there are millions of dollars involved in these negotiations and the legal details need to be very carefully worked out. Now we do have a team of special international lawyers to do that, but it is a help if I understand the general picture.
M: Yes. And where’s your next trip?
W: Well, my next trip is to Tokyo in a couple of weeks. We’re preparing a fair there to promote Canadian fashions and design. Fashion and design’s a new area for mc and also for the agency. Now, we know it’s difficult to break into the Japanese market, so it’s going to be a very big challenge for us, but I’m really excited about it.
M: Canadian fashion in Japan! Wow! How do you think that’s going to go down, Chris?