B.C. premier embarks on trade mission to Asia

Premier David Eby is heading to four Asian nations on an 11-day trade mission, pitching B.C. businesses and resources to the region.

Speaking to reporters ahead of his flight Saturday, Eby said he’s looking forward to deepening B.C.’s trade relationships across Indo-Pacific.

“These are incredibly important destinations for us for a number of reasons. We recently launched our trade diversification strategy, and the whole idea behind that is our province is stronger the deeper our relationships are with more countries.”

Eby will make stops in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam. But he isn’t going alone — he’ll be joined by Energy Minister Josie Osborne, Minister of State for Trade Jagrup Brar, and Economic Development Minister Brenda Bailey.

The delegation is expected to make its best case for B.C.’s liquified natural gas (LNG), critical minerals, hydrogen energy, and forest products. Eby also said he’s excited to visit Singapore to learn from leaders in housing development there.

“Singapore, like British Columbia, has a very constrained land base and big challenges in making sure there’s housing available. They’ve been globally recognized for their housing strategy and I’m really excited to be meeting some of the leaders of that work to make sure middle-income Singaporean families are able to access housing.”

The ministers will not be visiting China. Eby said that B.C. already has a strong trade relationship with China, and this trade mission is meant to diversify the province’s trade relationships.

“The goal we have here is really to support our trade diversification strategy. China is a strong trading partner for British Columbia — so is the United States. We see global tensions between those two countries and we know how trade routes can be disrupted by global events that hurt British Columbians. We believe that by diversifying our trade relationship with other countries we’ll be able to protect British Columbians from those kind of swings.”

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Eby said he’s thinking about the trip as an opportunity to meet with leaders and initiate further trade talks. He and his ministers return on June 7.

“The federal government as a whole has really prioritized the Indo-Pacific region for increasing trade relationships. I will be the first premier from Canada to visit this area post-COVID to start building those relationships. I believe very strongly that B.C. will benefit from being the first mover to capitalize on the free trade agreements and other agreements the federal government has struck.”

With files from Michael Williams and The Canadian Press