Top Canadian officials, Chinese community celebrate successful year of China-Canada relations
By Al Campbell
VANCOUVER, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Canadian business elite, top politicians and prominent members of local Chinese community on Saturday celebrated the 27th anniversary of the Canadian Chinese Business Development Association in the suburb city of Richmond.
Coming off a year when the two countries marked 40 years of diplomatic ties, guest of honor Stockwell Day, president of Canada's Treasury Board and minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, said that China was an important strategic partner and increasing bilateral trade was a priority for both governments.
He credited the work of business groups, such as the Canadian Chinese Business Development Association, as a key to the ever-strengthening ties.
"It's about the future. That's how we look at this new year, that's why our prime minister is excited about the things that have happened between these associations over the last few years," said Day, who visited China twice last year.
"Since we (Canada's Conservative Party) are in government we've had 38 ministerial visits to China, we've opened six trade offices," he added.
Echoing Day's sentiments was Liang Shugen, Chinese consul general in Vancouver, who praised the city's Canadian Chinese business community for fostering the growth in China-Canada trade.
"We're very happy to see that trade figures have been increasing in the last few years and we're looking forward to even greater achievements in the future," he said.
Equally enthusiastic about the potential for trade growth was Colin Hansen, British Columbia's finance minister.
As Canada's Pacific gateway with a "well established Asian community that makes up 20 percent of the province's population," British Columbia was regarded as the "pre-eminent economic and cultural crossroads between Asia and North America," Hansen said.
He added there had been many decades of really strong ties between Canada and China, and in particular British Columbia and China.
"The last year has been particularly strong. We've seen our two-way trade between our countries rise significantly. Vancouver and British Columbia are the gateway for Chinese goods coming into the North American market. We are expanding that. And also we see the demand for British Columbia products, whether it is coal or copper or lumber, going into China in increasing quantity," he said.
Canada is also looking to welcome more Chinese visitors in 2011 after officially receiving its designation as an Approved Destination Status (ADS) country.
After receiving 160,833 Chinese visitors in 2009, Canada was forecasting the number of arrivals to increase by 10 percent in 2010 and 15 percent in each of the following two years. With ADS, Chinese tourists can visit designated countries in approved tour groups.
"It's very significant," said Hansen. "We have so much beautiful scenery in British Columbia, so many destinations that I think are world class and we really want to lay the welcome mat out for citizens from China to come to British Columbia to see what a great place this is."
加拿大高级官员和华人社区庆祝中国与加拿大关系成功的一年
记者: 阿•坎贝尔
温哥华，1月22日电（新华社） - 加拿大商界精英，高层政治家和本地华人社区知名人士星期六在邻近的列治文市庆祝加拿大华人商业发展会27周年。
加拿大国库局局长及亚太门户部长戴国卫，作为嘉宾在致词时说：即将过去的一年是加中建交40周年，中国是加拿大一个重要的战略合作伙伴，两国政府都把扩大双边贸易作为优先事项。
他赞扬商会社团，例如加拿大华人商业发展会的工作，是两国关系不断加强的关键。
“这（两国关系不断加强）关乎未来。我们是这样看待新的一年，这也是为什么我们总理对这些协会近几年所做的事情感到非常兴奋，” 戴国卫说，他去年访问了中国两次。
“自从我们（加拿大保守党）执政，我们已经有38次部长级访问中国，我们开设了六个贸易办事处，”他补充说。
与戴国卫的赞扬相呼应，中国驻温哥华总领事梁梳根，也赞扬该市的加拿大华人商业社团为促进中加贸易增长的努力。
“我们非常高兴地看到，贸易数字已在过去几年里不断增长，我们期待着在未来取得更大成就，”他说。
卑诗省财政厅长韩仕新对贸易增长潜力同样热情。
作为加拿大太平洋的门户，并有“占全省人口百分之二十的历史悠久的亚裔社区，” 卑诗省被视为“亚洲和北美之间卓越的经济和文化的交汇处，” 韩仕新说。
他补充说，加拿大和中国之间，特别是卑诗省和中国之间曾有过几十年非常强劲的关系。
“去年一直特别强劲。我们已经看到了我们两个国家之间的双向贸易增长显著。温哥华和卑诗省是未来中国商品进入北美市场的门户。我们正在扩大此一门户作用。而且我们也看到对卑诗省产品的需求，无论是煤，铜或木材，到中国去的数量在不断增加，“他说。
在正式获得指定旅遊目的地地位（ADS）后，加拿大还计划在2011年欢迎更多中国游客。
在2009 年，加拿大接待了160,833中国遊客，加拿大预测中国遊客2010年增加百分之十，以后两年每年增加百分之十五。有了ADS，中国遊客可以以旅遊团方式到指定的国家旅遊。
“这是非常重要的，” 韩仕新说。 “我们卑诗省有这么多美丽的风景，我认为许多景点都是世界一流的，我们真的想为中国公民铺开欢迎地毯，让他们到卑诗省来，看看这是一个多么伟大的地方。”
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