The City of Surrey capped a number of deals made by Surrey businesses and Indian organizations during a business mission to India with its own deal with a city in India on Saturday.
Participating in Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts’ mission are 32 delegates representing 24 B.C. companies from a wide cross-section of sectors that have operations in Surrey.
On February 19, Surrey signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City of Jalandhar to, among other things, develop sustainability initiatives and emissions reduction strategies and identify possible academic and other research partnerships.
Also during the February 10 to February 21 mission, Surrey’s BioLytical Laboratories signed a deal with a network of eight hospitals in India.
The network will test BiolyLytical’s 60-second blood-test kit for diagnosing HIV.
Also during the mission, Simon Fraser University signed a letter of intention (LOI) with an Indian university to develop a joint PhD program and an MOU with an Indian technology firm that could lead to that firm setting up an office in Surrey.
LOIs and MOUs are agreements that are commonly agreed to during business missions.
While they are largely ceremonial and can lead to little, they can also be the first step toward productive partnerships.
Stats Canada recently said that B.C. trade with India in 2010 increased 74% to $135 million.
Watts told Business in Vancouver 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.