Updates are trickling into B.C. out of India about Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts’ mission to that country to promote Surrey businesses.
Participating in the mission are 32 delegates representing 24 companies from every sector – from education to wood and manufacturing to film and entertainment.
In the first four days of the mission, the City of Surrey hosted a VIP reception for delegates, Indian-based businesses and government officials.
Mission delegates also took in a session on "doing business in India.”
"Companies who don't do well in India are ones that don't do their homework,” said Nikhil Bhatia, an India-based tax partner with PwC, at the seminar. “In virtually every sector there is opportunity.”
BC Film president and CEO Richard Brownsey met with Bollywood industry professionals.
In total, more than 100 meetings are expected to take place throughout India during February 10-21.
According to the city, more than 27% of Surrey residents are of South Asian descent, according to the city.
Stats Canada said last week that B.C., buoyed by record trade with Asia, saw the value of its domestic exports climb to more than $28.7 billion in 2010, a 15% increase from 2009.
B.C. trade with India in 2010 increased 74% to $135 million, Stats Can said.
Watts told BIV last November that Surrey’s India mission stems from conclusions reached at the Surrey regional economic summit last October. (See “Surrey leverages diverse demographic to court international trade markets”– issue 1101; November 30-December 6, 2010.)
There, thought leaders highlighted shifting polarities, in which the United States’ influence is diminishing, while India’s and China’s influences are rising.
“We have natural relationships with India,” said Watts. “With those relationships, we can certainly position ourselves and, in particular, our businesses, to be better advantaged than others in India.”
Among the companies participating in the mission are PowerTech Labs, Ballard Power Systems, Nexterra, Westport Innovations, the Pallan Group and Blake Cassels and Graydon LLP.
Businesses delegates are paying their own way, said the city.
Five Surrey officials, including Watts, are participating in the mission.