Canada's PM pushes Wen on investment deals

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to approve pending Canadian investments in the financial sector in a Beijing meeting yesterday, Bloomberg reported. A person familiar with the talks identified proposed investments by Manulife Financial (MFC.NYSE, MFC.TSE) and Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank, BNS.NYSE, BNS.TSE). “We have, I think, a pretty open regime when it comes to Chinese investment in Canada,” Harper said. “I’ve raised with the Chinese certain cases where we’re concerned about non-approval of existing investments by Canadians in China and that we expect to see even-handedness.” Scotiabank is waiting on regulatory approval for purchase of a 19.99% stake in Bank of Guangzhou, worth about US$723 million. The two countries also concluded an investment protection agreement, which will be signed after a legal review by each side. The pact “ensures non-discriminatory treatment in terms of national firms in application of the law and it also provides additional dispute settlement mechanisms in the event of difficulties,” Harper said.