The Canadian province of British Columbia on Tuesday opened a trade office in Taipei to enhance its relations with Taiwan, its seventh-largest trading partner.
“Having a trade office in Taiwan will open doors to new opportunities for B.C. businesses,” British Columbia Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Brenda Bailey was quoted as saying in a statement.
“By expanding our trade relationships, and promoting B.C.’s innovative, sustainable products and services internationally, we are continuing our work to support businesses and the people who depend on them,” Bailey said.
Photo courtesy of the British Columbia Trade Office in Taipei via CNA
The British Columbia Trade and Investment Representative Office is to support the province’s businesses by giving them better access to the Taiwanese market and promoting exports, the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei said in the statement.
“The opening of B.C.’s new Trade and Investment Representative Office in Taiwan is a testament to our Indo-Pacific Strategy launched in 2022,” the statement quoted Canadian Representative Jim Nickel as saying. “This demonstrates not only Canada-Taiwan’s fast-growing economic partnership, but also the B.C. Government’s determination to support more good jobs and opportunities for both B.C. and Taiwanese communities.”
The office is the second opened by a Canadian provincial government after Alberta did so in 1988.
In related news, the European External Action Service yesterday announced that Lutz Gullner has been nominated as the EU Head of Office to Taiwan.
“I am honoured to be nominated as the Head of Office of the EU in #Taiwan. Looking very much forward to my new role,” Gullner said on social media yesterday.
“Congratulations on the well-deserved appointment,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS