B.C.\u2019s premier has announced a plan to continue expanding the province\u2019s trade partnerships in Asia.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a media event in Vancouver Tuesday morning, Premier David Eby and Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth Ravi Kahlon said they will travel to India together next week.<\/p>\n
The announcement comes after provincial officials spent 2025 travelling overseas to sign off on trade deals, working to reduce B.C.\u2019s dependence on the United States.<\/p>\n
In June, the premier visited Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia with Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham and Parliamentary Secretary Paul Choi.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very much looking forward to being able to meet with companies and with government officials across India,\u201d said Eby on Tuesday. \u201cThis is a continuation of our work to diversify markets, most recently on a trade mission to Asia. Our second trip to Asia to deepen those relationships and that has resulted in significant projects coming forward in British Columbia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Between the two of them, Eby and Kahlon will visit New Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, and Bengaluru.<\/p>\n
Kahlon says India is on track to become the third-largest economy in the world and bilateral trade between the country and B.C. was worth $2.1 billion in 2024 \u2013representing a quarter of Canada\u2019s exports to India.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a strong foundation for us to build on, and this mission will help us unlock opportunities in forestry\u2026 in clean energy, sustainable resources and innovation areas,\u201d said Kahlon.<\/p>\n
In November, Eby and Kahlon announced the province\u2019s new \u2018Look West\u2019 strategy, which includes a focus on \u201cbuilding pathways to international trade\u201d and \u201cdiversifying markets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eby said the strategy will help B.C. face economic unpredictability amid the trade war with the U.S. and \u201cattacks\u201d from U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Diplomatic relations between Canada and India soured considerably in 2024 after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged the Indian government was involved in the assassination of Surrey Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.<\/p>\n
When asked about Canada\u2019s relationship with India, Eby said the federal government is fulfilling its \u201cproper role,\u201d managing issues of shared concerns with the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur proper role as a sub-national government, as a province, is to ensure we\u2019re looking after British Columbians, and in a moment of opportunity and warming relations with India, to ensure that we\u2019re benefiting from that. Delivering jobs for British Columbians. Particularly in sectors that have been particularly hard hit by Trump\u2019s tariffs, like the softwood industry,\u201d said Eby. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important work that\u2019s happening at the federal level. The criminal process will continue. And for our part, our engagement with sub-national governments and leaders and companies in India is an important part of looking after British Columbians as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eby and Kahlon are expected to visit India from Monday, Jan. 12, to Saturday, Jan. 17.<\/p>\n
You can watch\u00a0CityNews 24\/7 live<\/a>\u00a0or listen live to\u00a01130 NewsRadio Vancouver<\/a>\u00a0to keep up to date with this story. You can also subscribe to\u00a0breaking news alerts<\/a>\u00a0sent directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"B.C.\u2019s premier has announced a plan to continue expanding the province\u2019s trade partnerships in Asia. Speaking at a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-393635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}