British Columbia, Canada?s westernmost province, seeks to capitalise on its strong Punjab connection. It has opened a business investment and skills liaison office in Chandigarh for better ties with states in North .
BC attorney general and government house leader, Michael de Jong says the aim is to give impetus to common economic growth. Jong who has been coming to this part of the region from the last three years feels that despite strong cultural ties, very little commercial investment has come up.
?To strengthen the economic relationship, the government thought of having permanent presence here. I have also proposed to the Punjab government to exploit trade opportunities in education, hydro energy, aviation and information technology sector?, said Jong.
Accompanied by his delegation, Jong was in the city to talk about recent initiatives that have been implemented to develop and advance business, economic, educational, cultural links between north India and British Columbia .
Talking to FE, Michael Chew, director, strategic occupations in the ministry of advanced education and labour market development said, ?BC received around 43,000 immigrants in 2008 and 16% were from India. Majority of them come from Punjab . We have estimated that by 2017, we would have 1, 30, 000 vacancies to be filled and this huge gap will be filled by the immigrants considering the ageing population of the country. This trade and investment office will surely help in building valuable links between Indian entrepreneurs and their counterparts in BC, for bilateral trade?.
DJ Sandhu, a faculty member of the University of the Fraser Valley, BC, is also the business investment and skills liaison representative, North India , for his province. In this capacity, Sandhu is now heading BC?s Trade and Investment Office in Chandigarh .
He says, his purpose is to help businesses in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland region take advantage of the opportunities offered by the huge Indian market. In this regard, Sandhu is extensively working with politicians and bureaucrats to act as what he calls the ?introduction service? between businesses on both sides.