John Klassen

Biography

Klassen has achieved nearly four decades of international trade and development experience throughout his career including: trade promotion, trade policy, personnel policy and management, multilateral and bilateral issues and relations, logistics and organization, investment policy development and promotion and science and technology cooperation. He has participated in various multilateral bodies including the GATT, OECD (trade committee) and APEC. In 1997, when Canada chaired the APEC process, Klassen was responsible for policy development and coordination across the full range of APEC activities and was Chair on the APEC Working Group on Organizational Change. Klassen was responsible for the development and coordination of bilateral negotiating strategies in the Tokyo Round Conference; Chief negotiator for the first Canada-EU Science and Technology Agreement; Chief Negotiator on Canadian interests in Chinese Accession to the WTO; Chief Negotiator for the Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement; Chief Negotiator for the Canada-Alberta Framework Agreement of the Kananaskis Summit; negotiated the First Nations agreement in the context of the Kananaskis Summit; developed framework investment cooperation agreements with Germany and Japan and provided oversight of Science and Technology Agreements with China and India.

Research Interest

Pharmaceutical Sciences