Agreements were reached, and meetings were held during Premier Eby’s trade mission to Asia.
BC Premier David Eby departed for a 10-day trade mission to Asia earlier this month, with the aim of expanding and diversifying the provinces export markets in the wake of the Trump Administration’s tariffs.
It was focused on strengthening relationships with governments, business leaders and investors, with also a focus on sectors like clean energy, technology, wood products, agrifood, and critical minerals.
Eby says trade relationships with the Indo-Pacific are especially important now, given their goal of becoming less reliant on the United States.
“B.C. has a lot of advantages, our proximity to Asia, our abundance of natural resources, our talented and diverse workforce,” said Eby.
“These are all things that the world needs, and it was a great opportunity to showcase that to key trade partners.”
The province says Eby was joined by Minister of Agriculture and Food Lana Popham, and parliamentary secretary for Asia-Pacific Trade Paul Choi for this mission, making stops in Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea.
These stops saw several meetings with government officials and business organizations about energy and mining projects, how to grow trade, opportunities to export food, and shipments.
Along with these discussions, agreements had been signed between BC and South Korea.
The first agreement sees Korea’s T’way Airlines launching a new seasonal service to Vancouver starting July 12, running until October, departing on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays each week.
Three Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) were reached, the first being between University of British Columbia and Pohang University of Science and Technology to promote joint research and faculty and student exchanges.
The second MOU is between Simon Fraser University’s Global Institute for Agritech and Seoul National University’s BK21 Global Smart Farm Educational Research Centre to support knowledge-sharing and research collaboration.
The third MOU, between SFU Global Institute of Agritech and POSTECH BK21 Advanced Materials Research Program, aims to support collaboration on academic and research activities.
Choi says they feel confident about the mission, adding they will continue promoting themselves as a key trading partner with those in the Asia-pacific region.
To learn more about the mission, click here.
–Files by Hussam Elghussein, My Cowichan Valley Now
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