Trade Mission Produced Results Says Premier
Prince George, B.C.- Back from the trade mission to Japan, Korea and the Philippines, Premier Clark says the mission produced positive results in the form of 25 business deals and partnership agreements being signed or announced. Those agreements are said to be worth more than half a billion dollars.
Among the agreements, were two which involve the University of Northern B.C.
UNBC and Gakushuin Women’s College signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop academic areas of mutual interest. The two are agreeing to establish a relationship to develop study abroad programs, exchange students and faculty members, promote the co-operation in academic activities, and develop other mutually beneficial programs. The schools also launched a new high definition video link between the two campuses.
UNBC also signed an MOU with the Japan Travel Bureau Business World Tokyo Corporation to promote, encourage, and facilitate the development and internationalization of higher education in B.C.
Among the many other agreements, the Province and Japan Oil Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) signed an agreement to co-operate and share information on natural gas activities in B.C.
And B.C.’s mining sector saw success during the trade mission, including a three-year extension of an agreement between Imperial Metals Corporation and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. worth $150 million, and a $35-million investment by JX Nippon Oil for a feasibility study for Xstrata Coal’s Suska Project near Dease Lake.
Comments
I wonder how badly our govt sold us out this time?
The concept of trade and a functioning economy continue to baffle the dippers.
“co-operate and share information on natural gas activities in B.C.”
So that sounds like a one way conversation/sharing.
So will we at least get some information about Japan’s current and projected needs for LNG and what they might manufacture in Japan if they had access to our LNG and what comopnents of that we could manufacture here in a joint venture?
It seems amazing that every trade mission holiday a politician makes is always a huge success. Federal, provincial or municipal politicians always justify the trip with a good news blurb upon return. Got to justify the spending of the taxpayers money.
We shipped more wood to china than the USA.
That dosen’t just happen. These missions have had undeniable success and our future as a trading nation needs these Asian markets. The 1st world counties are in decline. We can keep pretending that will change, or adapt. There are plenty of junkets that are totaly a waste, but efforts to increase trade are not. Its always an easy target to bitch and moan about these missions.
Nothing in the article to suggest $500+ million investment… Not bein’ known for my cyphering all I see is $185 million… Are there $315 million in goodwill exchanges with UNBC…. I think not.
More smoke and mirrors from Premier Cristy…
More wood to China than USA is easy to explain… the housing market in the USA is dead, it will not recover in the near term, regardless of optimistic reports from brokers who say otherwise…. lots of empty subdivisions in large cities in the USA… check the listings in Phoenix…. or Detroit.
Election call just around the corner.
âNothing in the article to suggest $500+ million investmentâ
â25 business deals and partnerships totaling over $500millionâ is the statement made. So you doubt it. You need the whole list? And then you would still doubt it I would think.
2 deals for $185million or an average of $92.5million each. Six deals at that average is over $500million. Even 10 more deals at half the above average is more than $500million. I do not think that is an unreasonable expectation, or a few more deals and a few less partnerships will get there as well.
That leaves 13 partnership deals or maybe a few less with no net money coming to BC, just improved business or the expectation/hope of improved business.
So exactly what do you base your comment on other than your bias, northernjoe?
Well at least CC and her party have created jobs and have had a pro active approach to business and opening up the mining sectors.Her party has accomplished more results for BC than NDP ever could!
Lets never forget how the NDP group ran this province into the ground! With CC at the helm we will all be better off….
We haven’t seen much indication that we’re “better off”. The prices of most things are higher, and the gap between them and incomes keeps increasing, As does the personal debt level that is needed for more and more people to fill that gap.
And tax cuts do work, if we were ever given any that weren’t replaced by increased fees and reduced services for just about everything provided by government. And a stupid HST that not only taxes your spending from earnings, but also from ‘borrowings’. The NDP did a lot of things that were utterly inane. But Campbell and Clark have fallen far short in being any kind of a meaningful improvement. I wouldn’t waste my vote on either of them.
Touche! socredible!
I say we go out for a Request for Proposal for a 10 year period with initial review after one year and a core services review after 5 years.
In fact, to get the best results, it would probably work best if we do that on a riding basis …. get the best people in, no matter what party they belong to …..
Hey, why do they need to belong to a party anyway? Some City Council’s work that way. We just have a large City Council-like governance structure based on a “ward” or “riding” system.
Oh, and the most important part is that like any other RFP, a contract has to be signed with the citizens when the representative is selected. Breach of contract is reason for dismissal.
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