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Special guests attend TBI January Breakfast

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT), in collaboration with the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), invited 11 scholarship recipients from Argentina, Brazil, Jamaica and Chile, currently conducting research in Canada, to participate in the Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP) science and technology study tour in Toronto from January 18-21, 2010. One of the final stops on their tour was the January Biotechnology Initiative breakfast, upon recommendation by the DFAIT Toronto Regional Office which has membership in the TBI and is active in promoting this worthwhile event to DFAIT and its network.

“The breakfast was most enjoyed by the group and the presentations were very enlightening. We appreciated the opportunity to attend a networking breakfast meeting with representatives from industry and academia, which was a change of pace in the context of the week’s other activities,” commented Kimberly O’Neil, International Education Policy Advisor, DFAIT.

The Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program is an initiative that was announced by Prime Minister Harper during the Summit of the Americas in 2009 and is intended to strengthen institutional linkages with partner institutions in the Americas. Its goals are to expose new future leaders in the Americas to Canadian academic excellence and create a cadre of foreign professionals and leaders with an informed and sustained interest in Canada. The 11 students of ELAP were selected in the areas of S&T and the life sciences.

The S&T study tour provided an occasion to showcase Canada's innovation strengths with a view to encouraging students to pursue collaborative research activities with Canadian partners after their four to six months of study or research in Canada come to an end. The breakfast session catered to several of the program’s objectives which included introducing students to main innovation players, particularly as they relate to the life sciences.

Further information regarding DFAIT’s International Scholarships is available at www.scholarships.gc.ca