CBC News Story (Compass Aug. 27/07)

The following story, covering the PEI/CASP Trade Mission, was on CBC on August 27th.

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Day 7 - Final Day of Meetings

On the final day of the PEI Trade Mission, the delegation split up into several groups. While some of us wandered far outside Moscow to inspect some farm opportunities, others engaged in meetings with contacts met on our stay here. The Mission has already yielded concrete business activity and is regarded as a complete success by all involved. Please check back here for news coverage, as well as the documentary video which will be uploaded to this site in the weeks to come.

Day 6 - Last Trade Show day and Canadian Embassy welcome

We finished off the trade show today and there's no arguing that we had more traffic than 90% of the other operations. A few tremendous contacts that have led to some meetings and a tour of an up and coming farm 200km from Moscow for a several members tomorrow. The evening had us at the Canadian Embassy where the Ambassador hosted a wonderful event - complete with some "Bud the Spud" music to make us feel at home :-) (see our PEI Agriculture Minister's exchange with the Ambassador above; Doug and David with him below; and Nancy and Anne enjoying themselves further below). Again, some intriguing discussions and further encouragement that this type of mission can lead to some promising opportunities for us all.

Day 5 - DokaGene celebrations

Wow - what a wonderful day! Alan and Alexander rented buses and transported our whole team and almost 150 other people out to their DokaGene farm. A tour ensued, demonstrating the implementations of many of our Island producers from the mission on the farm (see our group in lab above). After the informative tour, we settled into a vegetable storage unit that would have passed as the most massive dance club on PEI but with tables for everyone to enjoy a fantastic BBQ dinner and speeches from some inspiring folk. All in all, an incredibly impressive event that demonstrates just how much can be accomplished here in Russia (see a celebratory toast below :-) ).

Day 4 - Potato Trade Show begins!

We've got a great PEI/CASP booth with DokaGene at the Potato Trade show - the first time this show has been held in Moscow, with delegates from Britain, continental Europe and beyond (see our group and booth above). PEI Agricultural Minister LeClair is shown below shaking hands with one of the Russian Ministers of Agriculture (if you're wondering what he's looking at, he had a very diminutive English translator :-) ) and below that are the dancers/singers who provided the entertainment for the opening. A good response overall and lots of interest from various fronts with great potential for the next few days.

Day 3 - Dmitrov and surrounding areas

We spend a little more time on the bus today, with a trip to a large supermarket and then out to Dmitrov (where DokaGene is located).  We visited a dairy farm and toured some of the vegetable growing areas in the river plains that supply most of the food for Moscow - corn, cabbage, carrots, onions, and more.  We were also able to visit an unbelievably beautiful new golf course that's being built outside Dmitrov (photos were a little restricted because it's not open yet, but that's our group in the lot below).  Our procession of about 10 electric golf carts toured all 18 holes and even got to get some tips from the British golf pro on the course! Allan Parker guided us down to a wonderful pedestrian mall where we had a delicious dinner outside on the patio of a nice restaurant with a string quartet busking classical music on the sidewalk nearby.

Day 2 - Moscow Tour

We had a wonderful tour of Moscow for our first full day here - what a beautiful city!  The group visited red square (group photo above), the Kremlin, Moscow University, and lots of other well-known sites.  We had a fantastic tour guide and our own bus, so we were able to stop for some souvenir shopping (like the great hats below).  We got some excellent video footage as well, which will be assembled upon our return.  Now that we have our bearings a little bit, we'll be ready to head outside the city tomorrow to see some farms and other areas.

Day 1 - Travel, travel, travel

Just arrived in Frankfurt airport and will be heading off on our final leg to Moscow in the next hour or so.

Our flight from Toronto was a couple of hours late, but we were at least able to get almost everyone into the lounge! Also, Ronald Hagen and Ashlez Gorman got their connecting flights here in Frankfurt changed so that all 19 of us are on the same plane to Moscow.

We'll arrive at the hotel early this evening with Pat Dorsey and Leo Walsh joining us later in the evening.

Tomorrow (Sunday), we'll be boarding a bus to do a tour of Moscow so that people get some exposure to the great sites and get a bit of the lay of the land.

Thursday, Aug. 16 - Video Reel

Welcome to the blog for the PEI/CASP Trade Mission to Russia. Here you will find daily (when possible) updates on our activities in Russia, along with photos, video, and more.

We invite you to leave messages or start discussions by using the "Comments" link below. We will us the same mechanism to reply to your questions or comments.

The following video reel will serve several purposes, the primary one being for display on our plasma screen at our booth at the Trade Show. You can watch the video right on this page through the controls below (it will take a minute to load - the Flash version should be up in a couple of days and it will play almost immediately). Check back often for updates!

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