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Your B.C. Government

Asia-Pacific Initiative

British Columbia is Canada's Pacific Gateway. To establish new opportunities and to open doors for B.C.-based businesses, entrepreneurs and organizations in the Asia-Pacific, your B.C. Government has initiated and is investing in a number of targeted projects and programs.

What your B.C. Government is doing for the Asia-Pacific Initiative:

  • Launched the Asia-Pacific Initiative to build economic prosperity through increased trade and investment opportunities with the global economic drivers of the 21st century – China, India, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia.
  • Established the new Asia-Pacific Business Centre at Vancouver’s Robson Square, a first point of contact to help B.C.-based businesses and organizations pursue economic opportunities in Asia and a conduit for Asia-based investors to connect with companies in British Columbia.
  • Opened six trade and investment offices in key Asian markets (Bangalore, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo). The Province also has trade and investment representative offices in the European Union and one for the West Coast of the United States.  
  • Launched the B.C. Alumni Initiative – a program of communication and engagement with expatriates and graduates from British Columbia who live and work in the Asia Pacific – leveraging business and social connections to promote British Columbia.
  • Developed a Twinning Tool Kit to support local governments in building "sister city" relationships.
  • Launched www.CanadasPacificGateway.ca, a multilingual website that provides information about British Columbia in categories such as investment, trade, immigration, education and travel. CanadasPacificGateway.ca is available in 10 languages – English, French, Spanish, Hindi, Punjabi, German, Japanese, Korean and simplified and traditional Chinese.
  • Provided $30 million towards the $170-million Phase I expansion and containerization of the Port of Prince Rupert and is pursuing plans for the proposed $650-million Phase II expansion, quadrupling capacity to two million TEUs.
  • Initiated the $3-billion Gateway Program, the largest infrastructure project in British Columbia’s history, helping expedite the movement of goods – by truck, train, airplane and ship – and encouraging Asian importers to choose B.C. as their North American transportation hub.

Trade is increasing as a result:

  • In 2008, bilateral trade between British Columbia and the Asia-Pacific, including India, was worth over $28 billion, an increase of over $10 billion or nearly 56 per cent compared with what was traded in 1999. Over this same period of time, British Columbia’s exports to these Asian countries have increased by 52 per cent.
  • By 2020, the total trade gain with the Asia-Pacific could be worth an estimated $76 billion for British Columbia and $230 billion for Canada. The total employment impact is estimated to be 255,000 jobs in British Columbia.
For more information:
Canada's Pacific Gateway