B.C. expands its profile in Southeast Asia

B.C. will open its first trade office early next year dedicated to attracting investment from Southeast Asia.

The office, to be in Jakarta, will be part of a new provincial trade strategy dubbed “Raising Our Game in Asia.” It also calls for small and mid-sized B.C. businesses to diversify their markets by developing transpacific trade.

Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick said it is crucial for B.C. small businesses to look to Asia and especially Southeast Asia, which contains five of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies — the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

“Right now, small businesses make up 98 per cent of business in B.C., but only 1.3 per cent of them are exporters,” Letnick said. “We want to change that. Through this strategy we will deliver new, streamlined systems to help businesses export their goods.”

Thursday’s announcement was made at the Richmond headquarters of local dried food distributor Dan-D Foods, which Letnick identified as an example of a B.C. business growing in Asia.

The province announced earlier this month the establishment of another trade office in the Philippines, but the Jakarta location will represent B.C. business and trade interests in the entire Southeast Asia region. The cost of the trade office is $670,000 annually.

The two new trade offices announced will bring the total number of B.C. investment representatives in Asia to 13, including locations in China, Japan, South Korea and India.

Letnick said trade officials hope to bring five Asian company headquarters to B.C. by 2020, and pointed to an announcement in November that Poly Culture Group, China’s biggest arts company, will establish its North American headquarters in Vancouver.