Forrige måned, topp kanadisk innvandring og militære tjenestemenn snakket i Vancouver, understreker Canadas aktive push å bli mer av en spiller på den internasjonale arenaen-spesielt i Asia-Stillehavsregionen.

Forrige uke, vist en trio av kunngjøringer at Canada er å sette planen til handling. Mens de fleste av oppmerksomheten har vært på statsminister Stephen Harpers besøk denne uken til Sørøst-Asia, kan to andre utbygginger som vil betale mer umiddelbar utbytte.

Harper og to øverste ministrene reiste til Sørøst-Asia sent i forrige uke, først for samtaler i Malaysia, deretter går videre til den indonesiske øya Bali for 21 APEC ledernes møte. Etter at vil internasjonale handelsminister Ed Fast gjøre separate turer til Singapore og Kina å bryte opp denne ukens diplomatisk innsats.

Ottawa har satt fokus på internasjonal handel som en måte å injisere ny energi i Canadas økonomi, og statistikken viser det er rom for forbedring. Bank of Canada sier kanadiske andelen globale eksport falt fra 4,5 prosent i 2000 til den gjeldende figuren på 2,5 prosent.

Canada er også i sin 1800 rett måned kjører en handelsunderskudd, noe som Ottawa utvilsomt ønsker å reversere.

Mens Harpers besøk til Malaysia og Indonesia kan legge grunnlag for fremtidig forretningsavtaler (kritikere er delt på hvor effektive turen blir), to mindre prominente tilbud-både som involverer flybransjen, kan betale mye raskere utbytte.

Først var kunngjøringen sist torsdag av en utvidet air transport avtale som ville tillate kanadiske bærere til Tokyo Haneda flyplass, starter april neste år.

Canada har allerede "åpen himmel sluttbrukere" for direkte transport til og fra Japan, men åpningen av kanadiske flyreiser til Haneda kan signifikant øke Canadas appellere til japanske og internasjonale turister.

Den største styrken til Haneda-i motsetning til Tokyo andre flyplass, Narita International, er dens nærhet til byens business kjernen. Tokyo, som mange store asiatiske byer, har flere flyplasser-vanligvis en eldre en nær byen, og en annen større, nyere anlegget lenger ut som gir større kapasitet og ekspansjon. (Haneda er 14 kilometer fra Tokyo forretningsdistriktet; Narita ligger 58 kilometer unna.)

I tilfeller av de fleste av disse mindre flyplasser-Seouls Gimpo, Shanghai Hongqiao eller Taipei Songshan-de er begrenset til det meste innenlands flyreiser, med noen få internasjonale ruter til forretnings- og diplomatiske klientell. Men Haneda blitt stadig få tilbake internasjonale flytrafikken fra Narita, delvis på grunn av sistnevntes lunger.

Kulminasjonen av Hanedas gjenopplivet var gjennomføring av en ny internasjonal terminal og en fjerde rullebane i 2010. Det året, Hanedas passasjer trafikk teller (64.2 millioner) mer enn doblet Narita's (30,8 millioner). Med Tokyo blir kalt vert OL 2020, byen er aktivt søker til Haneda som et alternativ-det bare kan hjelpe hvis kanadiske bærere utnytte det potensialet til å få ekstra reisende og inntekter.

Andre kunngjøringen kom fra Air Canada og Air China. De to operatører sa forrige uke de vil utvide deres code-sharing avtale, slik at reisende enklere tilgang gjennom deres nasjonale flyselskap.

Avtalen virker gjennom Air Canadas hub på YVR og Air Kinas base i Beijing. Kanadiere kan reise på kinesisk flyreiser kodet som AC (Air Canada) fra Beijing til seks kinesiske byer (Guangzhou og Xian blant dem), mens kinesiske reisende få tilgang til Air Canada flyreiser fra Vancouver til seks kanadiske byer (Toronto, Calgary, etc.) gjennom luften Kinas CA bookingsystem.

Canada utstedt 235,000 besøkende visum til kinesiske borgere i fjor-et rekordhøyt. En enklere, mer sømløs måte for kinesiske reisende å besøke Canada vil mer enn sannsynlig legge betydelig til dette nummeret.

I både Haneda og kinesisk kunngjøringer er forventningen at det vil åpne dører for flere turister og mer business folk å besøke Canada. På kort sikt, kan dette gi raskere resultater i landets økonomiske finans enn høyprofilerte møter og topper.

China and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) signed the 10th supplement to the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA X), at the end of August which covers measures to foster tighter cooperation in the financial services sector. What will it mean for the Hong Kong financial services sector? Will it change the fundamentals of Hong Kong’s asset management industry for better or worse?

CEPA, the arrangement between the mainland and Hong Kong, is essentially a free trade agreement that offers Hong Kong products, companies and residents preferential access to the mainland market. The measures in this latest agreement will come into force at the beginning of 2014.

Hong Kong financial secretary John Tsang and Chinese vice minister of commerce Gao Yan signed the 10th supplement to agreement at the end of August. Tsang say among the supplements made since the signing of CEPA in 2003, Supplement X contains the greatest number of measures.

Some 28 business sectors have already been partly liberalised for Hong Kong exporters and services providers, including (among many others) construction, real estate, market research, banking, securities, transportation, freight forwarding, and trademarks. Companies in some 18 service industries enjoy varying degrees of improved access. In some areas, the concessions go further than China’s commitments under its accession agreements to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Under various agreements, provided appropriate rules of origin conditions are met, Hong Kong goods in some 374 separate tariff codes can be exportable to the mainland free of duty.

Specifically, Supplement X to CEPA provides covers some 73 separate areas of financial and manufacturing services of which some 65 involve measures liberalising the operation of financial services and eight others which “strengthen co-operation in areas of finance and facilitate trade and investment “ between mainland China and Hong Kong. One of the more important elements in this 10th round is that the mainland has agreed to assess the value of mutual recognition of fund products between the mainland and Hong Kong.

Under this latest agreement the mainland has agreed to study the efficacy of introducing mutual recognition of fund products between the mainland and Hong Kong. Up to now the impact of CEPA on the Hong Kong securities industry has been relatively minor.

Under the terms of this latest agreement Qualified Hong Kong-funded financial institutions will be allowed to set up joint venture fund management companies in the mainland in accordance with local requirements. The shareholding percentage of these Hong Kong-funded institutions will now be able to exceed 50%. Hong Kong-funded financial institutions which satisfy the requirements for establishing foreign-invested securities companies will be also allowed to set up one full-licensed joint venture securities company each in Shanghai, Guangdong Province and Shenzhen in accordance with relevant mainland requirements.

Moreover, Hong Kong-funded securities companies will be allowed to make reference to all the securities assets being managed by the respective group when applying for Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) status. “We highly welcome the latest initiatives under CEPA X,” says Timothy Tse, chief executive at Value Partners, the Hong Kong based investment firm. “This marks another step of liberalisation in the mainland’s financial services sector.  As China quickens its pace in financial reforms, investors can be the end beneficiaries and may enjoy a better offering of products and services,” he adds.

Tse points out the potential size of a free market between the mainland and Hong Kong. “The average savings rate in China exceeds 50% of GDP, equivalent to around $4trn a year. For the mainland’s mutual fund industry, the total assets in funds, trust company products and insurance savings vehicles have grown to exceed $2trn in size.”

To that should be added Hong Kong’s already strong asset management industry. According to the latest survey released by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the combined fund management business in Hong Kong rebounded significantly to a record high of HKD12.6trn (about $1.62trn) as of the end of 2012, representing year-on-year growth of 39.3%. “The much-anticipated mutual recognition scheme of investment funds is considered to be a game changer,” says Tse.  “Hong Kong’s fund products have a strong appeal and will likely catch the eyes of mainland investors, a huge potential client base given the size of the China market and the high savings rate on the mainland.”

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The suited executives behind Macau's gaming industry knew Navin Aggarwal as a respected adviser in big land, hotel and casino deals. But it was a façade that hid a craving to gamble that could lose him as much as HK$10 million in a day.

It has also cost Aggarwal, 47, the next 12 years of his life - his jail sentence for engineering an HK$8.5 billion fraud scheme described by a High Court judge last month as the worst embezzlement case in Hong Kong's history.

The victims lost at least HK$572 million.

Law Society vice-president Stephen Hung Wan-shun said Aggarwal would be struck off the roll of solicitors and be banned from ever practising again. The society will refer his case soon for disciplinary proceedings.

"Stealing clients' money is a very, very, very serious misconduct," Hung said.

The former partner of international law firm K&L Gates found himself drawn to the gambling tables not long after he was assigned to Macau to advise clients in the gaming industry in the early 2000s.

He headed a corporate finance team specialising in mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance and securities work. Professionally, he was a successful man, but that meant nothing when it came to controlling a desire to keep trying his luck at the gambling tables.

Generous in placing bets, Aggarwal was soon taken to the VIP rooms, where he played baccarat. The money he earned as a high-flying legal eagle - as much as US$1 million a year - quickly became insignificant compared to his debts.

Finding no way out, he put an elaborate scam into play starting from 2007.

By the time he was caught in 2011, he had duped 92 investors and two clients - including some of the shrewdest businessmen and professionals in Hong Kong - into handing over their money for "business opportunities".

Aggarwal was declared bankrupt in July last year.

The seven current partners of K&L Gates had dug into their pockets to pay two clients HK$83 million in compensation.

The firm is also fighting claims by 17 major victims for HK$686 million.

The firm may have its US parent to thank for having taken out insurance against fraud. But if the insurer shoulders the payouts, higher premiums are almost inevitable in the future - and the whole legal industry will be the poorer for it.

Born in Hong Kong to an Indian family, Aggarwal was the third of four children, with an elder brother and sister and a younger sister. He attended Island School before leaving for the University of Hull in England to read for a Bachelor of Laws degree. Returning to the city, he studied for a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws at the University of Hong Kong.

In 1992, Aggarwal was admitted as a solicitor and specialised in commercial law. He set up a law firm, Aggarwal & Associates, in 1999 but a year later joined Preston Gates & Ellis, which merged with another firm in 2007 to form K&L Gates.

Despite his job, Aggarwal did not live the high life, according to a lawyer who represented him. Home was a modest flat in Pok Fu Lam and he drove a Toyota.

"The tragedy of the case is all the money has now gone to casinos," another of his lawyers commented. "He is now left with nothing. All he has left is the disgrace he brought upon himself."

Staff at K&L Gates were instructed not to talk to the media about Aggarwal. The firm's spokesman, Asia managing partner David Tang, would make no comment.

None of Aggarwal's colleagues at the firm wrote to the courts to seek clemency for the man, who had pleaded guilty.

Defence barrister Graham Harris SC asked in mitigation: "How would a person of such intelligence allow himself to dig such a huge hole?"

The question was not answered in court, but City University's Professor Tom Yuen Chi-man, an expert on the counselling of gamblers, had a clue.

"Gambling addiction has nothing to do with IQ," he said.

"Many professionals get hooked because they want to prove, if not to pretend, that they are intelligent. They want to outwit the casinos."