Provincial officials have decided to cut short their Asia trade mission.
Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development has been in South Korea and Japan to promote B.C. lumber but ten days ago the daughter of the founder of Huawei was arrested in Vancouver on suspicion of fraud.
That incident has strained our relationship with China and Donaldson says it’s better if he doesn’t continue on with the last leg of the trade mission to that part of the world.
Susan Yurkovich, president and CEO of the Council of Forest Industries said she and a group of forestry business executives will, however, continue on to China.
“We’ve had very good support from the Chinese government. They are interested in our products and in opportunities available to build with wood to address climate challenges and we are proceeding with the meetings that we had arranged.”
Yurkovich said there is a lot of opportunity in China, especially when it comes to value added Canadian wood products.
