BC’s Asia-Pacific trade team works to build our International Financial Gateway

British Columbia’s trade and investment representatives in East Asia worked together to organize a tour for the President of the Vancouver International Financial Centre, Bruce Flexman.  The purpose of the trip was to raise awareness of the International Financial Activity (IFA) program and the British Columbia tax and investment climate amongst Asian financial institutions and multinational organizations looking to increase their presence in North America.  BC’s representatives in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul organized over fifty meetings for Mr. Flexman over a 12 day period, with leading Asian financial institutions, management firms, multinational companies, media and other corporate decision-makers.

BC Food and Beverage Promotion in Chongqing

BC’s South China trade and investment representative worked to facilitate the participation of three BC companies in the first-ever Canadian Food Festival in western China, organized in conjunction with the Consulate of Canada in Chongqing and the Far Eastern Department Store (FEDS) Food Supermarket.  Ross Chocolate, Icefield Bottled Glacial Water and Golden Bon Bon Nougat Candy – along with BC geoduck, spot prawns and sablefish – were featured in the promotion.  FEDS, a subsidiary of Taiwan Far Eastern Group, is ranked as Asia’s No. 1 retailer, with consolidated annual revenues of over C$ 3 billion.  Its food supermarket, launched in 2006, is targeted at high-end consumers and provides an ideal venue to market BC’s quality food image.  The BC food products received a very positive reception from consumers in Chongqing, and FEDS is expected to continue to stock them on its store shelves which will generate new exports from BC to China.

BCCIE signs MOU with Shanghai Management School

The Shanghai Economic Management School (SEMS) – the municipal government organization responsible for management training for Shanghai state owned enterprises – signed an MOU with the British Columbia Council for International Education this month.  Under the partnership, managers and executives from China's largest economic, financial and transportation hub city will receive training from BC’s world-class business schools and institutions.  In addition to signing the agreement with BCCIE, SEMS also met with SFU’s Learning Strategies Group and UBS’s Sauder School of Business.  BC’s trade and investment representative in Shanghai was instrumental in introducing SEMS to BCCIE, along with subsequent client development and support.

BC wood sales to China continue In December, Fujian-based Jiahua Timber received their second-ever shipment of logs from BC’s Transpac Fibre at the Port of Putian.  BC’s trade and investment representative in Beijing has been working jointly with Transpac Fibre and Jiahua Timber to further facilitate the increase of BC logs to China, which culminated in a meeting in Victoria between Minister of Forests Pat Bell and the Vice Governor of Fujian Province in November.  The Fujian City of Putian is particularly eager to build up their wood processing and lumber production capacity for the domestic Chinese market.   The first-ever shipment of BC logs is expected to arrive at the Port of Putian sometime in January 2010.

Green Business Grows for BC companies in Korea

BC’s trade and investment representative in Seoul continues to work with BC companies seeking to expand their business in Korea.  In December, four BC companies - Carmanah Technologies, CB Williams, Schneider Electric, and Xebec – participated in the Green Business Plaza in Seoul, an important clean energy trade show.  BC’s trade representative was instrumental in introducing several prospective Korean partners to each company, as well as providing support with their meetings with existing customers in Korea.  Xebec is expected to announce their participation in a major consortium project in Korea as early as January 2010.

Japan’s CoGen Media opens its North America office in Victoria

Tokyo-based CoGen Media chose Victoria as the location for its first office in North America, thanks to the support and advice they received from BC’s Tokyo office and the Ministry’s Japan team, Investor Services and the Provincial Nominee Program.  CoGen Media is a leading provider of Pan-Pacific digital commerce solutions, who builds and manages online businesses for software and game publishers, online retailers and distributors.  CoGen originally met BC’s representative at the Tokyo Game Show in October 2008.  Subsequent information provided on the advantages of establishing an office in British Columbia, as well as opportunities under the Provincial Nominee Program for CoGen’s senior programmers, led to the company’s decision to open their North American office in BC.

Other Success Stories from 2009:

Mitsubishi Materials invests C$250 million in Copper Mountain Project

Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (MCC) announced an investment  deal worth C$ 250 million in the Copper Mountain project.  The Similco copper mine, near Princeton, British Columbia, Canada, originally started production in 1923 and ceased production in 1996 due to low copper prices. The Project will re-start the Similco copper mine by mid 2011, taking advantage of the lready existing infrastructure, which will reduce capital expenditures and the construction period.  MMC will purchase all of the copper concentrate production after the re-start of the mine, estimated to be about 150,000 metric tonnes per annum.   BC’s trade and investment representative in Tokyo has been working to support BC’s mining investment overtures to MMC since October 2007, meeting regularly with the company to provide information, arranging meetings for BC Mining Ministers (Krueger, Hogg) as well as with senior management and geologists from the company. 

UK software company establishes office in Vancouver

UK-based Loadbalancer, a provider of load balancing computer software solutions, opened its first Canadian office in British Columbia.  The new sales and marketing office in Vancouver will offer services and after sales support in western Canada and the United States. Loadbalancer’s west coast customer base continued to expand, enough to justify a service presence in the follow-on time zone from Europe.  The company’s President Malcolm Turnbull commented to BC’s UK-based representative that ultimately, he chose Vancouver because he visited the city and liked what he saw. This experience underscores the tremendous opportunity that the 2010 Winter Olympic Games will present to showcase BC’s assets to future prospective investors.

Coastland and Satyim conclude joint manufacturing deal

The Province’s Trade and Investment Representative in  Bangalore, India has assisted Coastland Fabricating and Design group of Delta  to successfully qualify and conclude a long term joint production agreement with Satyam Industries (Bhopal), one of India’s largest manufacturers of transformer tanks and power transformer components for the power, hydro, thermal and nuclear industries.  Coastland and Satyam Industries have joined forces to produce components and assemblies for the North American energy market. This announcement marks the first successful outcome of the services provided by the Trade and Investment Office in Bangalore afteronly being open for a few months. 

Don Fast

Deputy Minister
Ministry of Small Business, Technology
and Economic Development
250-952-0102 or fax 250-952-0600
http://yougottabehere.com/    
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