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Making a success of your business projects in Japan in the new international context

Mr. Jun Saito was born in Tokyo. He spent his childhood with young people of diverse origins while he and his family lived in the United States. This experience significantly steered his career path toward international affairs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was a natural choice, hence he joined in 1988. The ministry sent him to France to study French for two years. He then worked in Belgium, followed by a tenure in New Delhi. Having become a minister at the Embassy of Japan in France and at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN, he was recently the delegate responsible for welcoming dignitaries during the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Since the beginning of his current assignment in Montreal, Mr. Saito has been active in strengthening and further deepening the existing relations in the economic and academic spheres, among other things, between Japan and Quebec and with the four Atlantic Provinces. A golf and tennis lover, he has been enjoying winter activities since his posting to Montreal in October 2021: snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Mr. Saito is married and his spouse is also a diplomat in the same ministry. Their marriage is blessed with two daughters.

Mr. Takeshi Saito joined JETRO in 1988. He has been assigned to JETRO’s overseas offices three times during his career – Germany, United States and Canada.

He has been working in Toronto as JETRO’s representative in Canada since last August.

The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) is a government-related organization that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world.

Interim Delegate General of the Québec Office in Japan since April 2022, Mr. Mark Raymond has been leading its export promotion section since 2016, helping Québec companies find clients and expand their sales in Japan.

Before Japan, he worked for 16 years as an International Trade Officer at Invest Québec International’s export division in Montreal, including 11 years with Japan. With over 20 years of experience in international trade, he assisted over 4000 companies with their export projects in various industries. Mr. Raymond is a graduate of École Nationale d’Administration and Université de Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne in France. He also holds an MBA from Université Laval.