Canada opens Canadian education centre in Indonesia

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien today opened a Canadian Education Centre in Jakarta, Indonesia, to promote Canadian educational and training institutions and associations.

The centre will offer a range of information and consulting services on participating Canadian institutions. It is part of a network of nine Canadian Education Centres (CECs) in Asia. Three CECs are already operational in Malaysia, South Korea and Chinese Taipei and Canada expects to open five more CECs over the next three years in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, India and possibly Japan.

"Targeted marketing of Canadian educational services abroad is long overdue - this is a rapidly growing service industry that will create more jobs and growth in Canada," said the Prime Minister. "Educating the future business and government leaders of our major trading partners will make Canada better known to the next generation of decision-makers."

The Canadian Education Network is jointly conceived and financed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in co-operation with Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Asia-Pacific Foundation. The CECs work with an active network of more than 100 subscribing institutions, including Canadian universities and colleges, as well as professional institutes.

Prime Minister Chrétien and the Team Canada delegation opened the Canadian Education Centre in Jakarta at the conclusion of their three-day visit to Indonesia.

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