In the bustling port city of Dalian, about 450 kilometres southeast of Beijing, British Columbia sometimes doesn’t seem all that far away. Delegates from the 2015 Forestry Asia Trade Mission experienced that feeling first-hand as they toured two factories where B.C. lumber is manufactured into products for the Chinese marketplace.

Heavy timbers made of high-quality British Columbian hemlock feature prominently in a spectacular wood frame home that Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson and 2015 Forestry Asia trade mission delegates visited in Tsukuba, Japan.

Premier Christy Clark has tasked Minister Steve Thomson with annual forestry trade missions to Asia to continue diversifying markets for B.C. wood exports. These annual missions are a cornerstone of the joint provincial-federal-industry market developments in Asia.

Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson will be leading a delegation of over 30 senior executives from B.C.’s forest companies and associations to Japan and China from Nov. 27 to Dec. 5, 2015.

Premier Christy Clark joined approximately 1,500 participants, including members of the Canadian business community, for the Terry Fox Run in Hong Kong as part of her trade mission to China.

The B.C. government is opening doors in China for B.C.’s clean technology companies with the signing of two significant climate change and clean energy-related agreements.