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No one person has done more to improve Canadian-Thai trade relations in the past few years than Senior Trade Commissioner and Commercial Counselor Sanjeev Chowdhury. Alas, his diplomatic career is coming to a close, so in this issue of Voyageur, we thought we’d look back at his amazing life and career.

Growing up in Halifax, Sanjeev graduated from Saint Mary’s University earning a Bachelor’s of Commerce, Magna Cum Laude, with a straight A average. In his fourth year at Saint Mary’s, he was elected Student Union President, the first student to do so while living off campus. While traveling to Ottawa to do some work with local politicians, he met then Cameroon’s ambassador to Canada, Philémon Yang, quite by chance and he quickly became enamored of the diplomat’s lifestyle. They became fast friends, and Sanjeev invited him to be the guest of honour at the outgoing Saint Mary’s student council’s farewell banquet (Ambassador Yang served as Cameroon’s ambassador to Canada for over 20 years, later became Cameroon’s prime minister and is now the President of the United Nations General Assembly).

While serving as President, Sanjeev won the Atlantic Canada competition to receive a Rotary International Scholarship to study anywhere in the world, and he chose the American Graduate School of International Management in Arizona, aka Thunderbird, where he received an MBA, again with distinction, and was named valedictorian.

Returning to Canada, he went into private banking, joining the Royal Bank in Toronto, but he didn’t like it. “I always knew I was a public servant at heart”, he says, so he returned to Halifax and joined the Nova Scotia government, as the executive assistant to the Minister of Economic Development and assistant to the Premier, John Savage. He was there for 20 months.

Sanjeev decided to take the foreign service exam. Interestingly, Ambassador Ping Kitnikone did so at the same time on 31 Oct 1992. Back then, foreign service jobs were scarce, so they both didn’t hear that they had been accepted until almost two years later. The two were part of an elite group of 12 selected from 12,000 applicants.
Sanjeev officially started working for the Canadian foreign service on 3 Jan 1995. His first job was the G-7 Summit in Halifax. He had just moved to Ottawa and ten days later, Ottawa sent him back to Halifax for eight months to prepare for the summit. And, yes, he did continue to live in his parents’ house. He then went back to Ottawa, to take a crash course in diplomacy, which included courses at the Canadian Foreign Service Institute. Speaking French accelerated Sanjeev’s move through the system.

His first overseas posting was to the Canadian Consulate in Mumbai from 1997-2000. He then went back to Ottawa as press secretary to John Manley, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. When Manley was appointed deputy prime minister, he took Sanjeev with him as his director of operations (Sanjeev took a two-year leave from the foreign service).

In 2003, at age 34, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed Sanjeev Consul General of Canada to Ho Chi Minh City; he was our youngest Consul General and the first Indo-Canadian Head of Mission for Canada. In 2006, he returned to work in Ottawa for five years, but in 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed him Consul General of Canada to Rio de Janeiro. As his regular three-year term was about to expire in 2014, he applied for a one-year extension, but John Baird, the Foreign Minister at the time, contacted Sanjeev and told him because of the upcoming Rio Olympics in 2016, Ottawa would prefer he stayed for two more years. As such, he was the first Canadian Head of Mission to be given a two-year extension. A slight hitch developed when it was discovered that the Foreign Minister didn’t actually have the authority to give two-year extensions, so Stephen Harper stepped in and authorized the move. As a result, Sanjeev was able to represent Canada at both the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

He then returned to Canada with no intention of leaving home again. But two years later, the Senior Trade Commissioner’s position came open in Thailand and it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. He jumped at working at his second favourite country in the world (after Canada of course). He was so good at it that they let him stay for six years – another record, the longest time in one posting for a senior Canadian diplomat in Bangkok (photo below taken by Roman Szelazek)..

“When I was stationed in Ho Chi Minh City as Consul General from 2003-2006, I would travel to Bangkok regularly,” Sanjeev recalls. “I remember Siam Paragon opening and it was a big deal just to travel here and go to the movies as we didn’t have any English language films in Vietnam back then. Every movie was dubbed in Vietnamese. I was here so often that I actually met then Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at the Starbucks in Siam Paragon. I remember saying to myself that if I could end my career anywhere, my dream would be to be posted to Thailand.”

Sanjeev inherited a very successful team in Bangkok; it is considered to be one of the top performing trade teams in the world and Sanjeev wanted to build on that success. All trade commissioners are annually judged on their key performance indicators (KPIs), and for Canada there are three key measurements: a) services provided to Canadian companies b) outcalls made to Thai companies; and c) successes. And these are all entered into a database monthly and at the end of the year, each trade commissioner is evaluated on how many services they provided, how many outcalls they made and how many successes they had. Globally, Bangkok ranks in the top five Canadian diplomatic offices for successes in the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (TCS), a remarkable feat for an office of only 10 trade staff.

What about the day-to-day stuff that trades commissioners do – please describe that. “Well, the embassy’s commercial section works to promote Canadian economic interests in Thailand,” Sanjeev says. “We support the efforts of Canadian companies who have selected Thailand as a market or supply-chain link for their products, services, and technologies. We also assist local partners by matching their needs with the appropriate Canadian firms. We provide support to Canadian companies with existing or prospective investments in Thailand and to local firms considering investment in Canada.”

Who has been pivotal in your success here? “Ms. Patarawan Dechaboonako, or Khun Pat. She has been with the Trade Commissioner’s Office for 32 years,” says Sanjeev. “She’s my assistant (the senior trade commissioner assistant), and I’d be lost without her. She’s like my Radar O’Reilly from MASH; when I ask her do something, I turn around and realize she’s already done it. She’s always one step ahead of me. Also, I can’t say enough about Khun Ashley and Khun Noey, our trade commissioner assistants. These are three women who will do any task, any time, with a smile on their face. Devotion and dedication to the cause is their hallmark, and it’s inspiring. All my trade commissioner colleagues agree. We’d be lost without Khun Pat, Khun Ashley and Khun Noey. But honestly, I have never worked in a diplomatic mission where everyone gets along so well -it’s just a big happy family full of lovely people.”

What is special to you about being a diplomat? “It’s not the crises, it’s the people who become your friends, particularly the citizens of the country where you are posted, many of them are the most accomplished in their country, and they are doing amazing things. The world is an incredible place: despite the turmoil we see and face every day in the international arena. As a diplomat, if you are genuinely interested in making a difference in the world, you can, but you have to be accessible.

Sanjeev has worked with the last three Canadian ambassadors to Thailand, all women (Donica Pottie, Sarah Taylor & Ping Kitnikone), another record in Canadian diplomatic history. He’s enjoyed working with all three but is particularly close to Ambassador Kitnikone. “We are on the same wavelength, we were friends before she was posted here, she’s very smart, no-nonsense, very efficient, quick and to-the-point. She’s also very funny and has a great sense of humour. I often laugh my guts out with her when we’re alone. When I spend time with her, I know why she is our Head of Mission and leader.”

Thoughts on CanCham: “I believe any chamber of commerce should have the full support of the embassy. If the Chamber succeeds, the embassy succeeds. And with the Chamber here, John Stevens, Derek van Pelt and Dean Outerson have been three wonderful presidents to work with. I am especially close to Derek as we worked together to keep the Chamber going during the dark days of COVID. He is one of my best friends here, someone who I call and confide in when I need advice.

“The work that CanCham does is excellent, the Chamber helps me a lot. Derek has taken care of a delegation of opposition MPs for me, and Dean has hosted visiting Canadian delegations at SASIN. In many ways, though CanCham is independent, it is extension of the embassy’s trade section. To ignore it, or not work hand-in-hand with it, would be a tremendous waste of a great resource.”

What are some current game-changers in Canadian-Thai relations? “Air Canada’s direct flights to Thailand that we helped to bring about, and the ETAs whereby Thais don’t need a visa for Canada if they have been to Canada any time in the last ten years, or if they hold a valid US visa.”

“Ambassador Sarah Taylor’s goal was to have CAN$5 billion in trade between the two countries before she left in 2023; we reached CAN$6 billion before she left and we’ve even surpassed that. Dr. Nalinee Taveesin, Thailand Trade Representative (TTR), is a great friend of Canada, so is Khun Sanan Angubolkul, immediate past chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC). We’ve developed great relationships with key figures in Thai society to help propel Canada-Thai trade relations forward, but these are not just professional relationships; Dr. Nalinee and Khun Sanan are personal friends, too. With the current chaos in the global markets, Canada is being seen as a reliable partner and the potential for Canadian-Thai trade is unlimited.”

Advice for aspiring diplomats? “I believe in what Lester Pearson said, you must make the effort to get out to meet people in the country where you are posted: you must have the right mindset, you must have an open mind. You are moving around every few years, so if you have children, it’s hard for them to make lifelong friends. And your spouse, or partner, may not be able to work. But there’s no better way to learn than to travel and work abroad.”

Some of Sanjeev’s other honours, include being the recipient of the UNESCO Vietnam medal, the Ho Chi Minh City Insignia medal, the Vietnam Peace and Friendship medal, and he holds an honorary doctorate from Augusto Motta University in Rio de Janeiro. He was also the first Canadian to be made an honorary citizen of Rio de Janeiro. In Thailand, he has served three consecutive years as a board member of the Rotary Club of Bangkok South, most recently as Vice-President.

Four years ago, Sanjeev & his partner Kiet adopted a son who is a Thai citizen. So even though at the end of July, Sanjeev will be retiring from diplomatic life, he will be staying in Thailand forever, as the family has decided to remain here– HURRAY – and you will still see him at CanCham functions (praise Buddha!).