Premier heading to Asia on spring trade mission

VICTORIA, B.C. — Premier Christy Clark will be heading to South Korea, Japan and the Philippines for a trade mission this spring.

She will be in Seoul, Manila and Tokyo from May 23 to 31, where she will work to advance export and investment opportunities in key sectors such as technology and innovation, LNG and international education.

The Premier says this trade mission will focus on strengthening trade and investment with priority markets in South Korea and Japan and developing new trade ties in the Philippines.

“B.C. ships more goods to these markets than any other province,” Clark adds. “This trade mission will help build on that success by attracting new trade and investment partners in sectors such as LNG, technology and international education.”

This trip marks the first one to South Korea from a Canadian Premier since the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement was enacted almost a year and a half ago, in January 2015.

Japan, which is B.C.’s third largest trading partner, has made several investments in the Province’s LNG sector. According to the Province, B.C. exported $3.6 billion in goods to Japan in 2015, with minerals, energy products and wood products being the top commodities.

“As a fellow member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, there is significant potential to grow trade and investment with Japan, which currently has a number of tariffs in place on Canadian exports such as seafood, agrifoods and lumber,” a press release from the B.C. Government states.

In December, the B.C. government announced plans to expand its trade presence in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region. The economy in this area has an estimated value of $2.4-trillion and annual growth forecasts above five per cent for the next five years.

In 2015, South Korea was B.C.’s fourth largest export market with $1.8 billion in exports.