With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1512670
13 N o u n P r oj e c t B C B U S I N E S S . C A J A N U A R Y 2 0 24 The recreational boating industry has direct revenues of $5.6 billion and employs about 75,000 people The province is home to some 33 sailing and yacht clubs Jim Pattison's Nova Spirit, a familiar sight in Vancouver's Coal Harbour, as compared to Roman Abramovich's Eclipse, the largest of some 65 "superyachts" owned by Russian oligarchs and subject to Western sanctions since Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Eclipse Length: 533 feet Value: US$438 million Nova Spirit Length: 150 feet Value: US$25 million When I meet with people for business reasons, I usually bring them a copy of our maga- zine. I want them to be able to see the product, engage with it and flip through it to uncover potential opportunities. Maybe they envision themselves or someone they know being a good fit in one of our sections. So, when the office of the Lithuanian ambassador to Canada arranged a sit-down with Darius Skusevičius, I natu- rally brought along the most recent issue of BCBusiness to make sure he knew what we are all about. To my surprise, Skusevičius greets me in the lobby of a downtown Vancou- ver hotel with his own copy of the magazine. Skusevičius's edition, pub- lished in 2012, is admittedly quite a bit thicker than mine. He immediately flips to an article by Roberta Staley called "Rise of the Cyclotron" (for which Staley won a Western Magazine Award). As it turns out, Advanced Cyclotron Systems, a Richmond-based manufacturer, is currently installing its nuclear medicine tech in Lithuania. Skusevičius sees it as the first of many links between his country and B.C. "We understand that for Canada, the most natural trade partner is the U.S.," he says. "But what we discovered dur- ing COVID is that some trade can be done no matter what the distance is." T R A D E EYES ON THE BALTIC Trade relations between Canada and Lithuania may be fledgling right now, but the country's ambassador here, Darius Skusevicius, spies opportunity by Nathan Caddell There are some Lithuanian exports that are popular in Canada, after all. The country is a big exporter of wood and furniture and was the place of origin for the popular virtual private network service Nord- VPN. Teltonika, a Lithuanian- based internet-of-things provider, has recently made inroads in Toronto. Still, trade between the two countries remains relatively low—Canada is in the 30-to-40 range in most categories when it comes to trade with Lithu- ania, according to Skusevičius. But he says that's a good thing, because it has room to grow: "Canada just upgraded its of- fice. Before this year, Canada had one embassy in Riga for three Baltic states. Now we've just got a full-fledged embassy and will add another person next year." In Canada, Skusevičius notes, there are about 60,000 people who claim to have relations to Lithuania. In B.C., where the "Lithuanian profes- sionals of B.C. are starting up their group, finally," according to Skusevičius, that number is around 5,000. But some of the industries Lithuania is special- izing in, like life sciences, ICT (information and communica- tions technology) and fintech, could have the potential for future collaborations with B.C. "We have a really big pool of ICT specialists, and many international companies are setting up service centres in Lithuania," says Skusevičius, who name-drops Western Union as an example. He also notes that, for any business in fintech, being in Lithuania means that you are inside the EU internal market and free to access the rest of the union. "We're a small country— flexible, adaptable," says Skusevičius. "If someone wants to invest, we always take a tailor-made approach and have dedicated experts working on each case. In big countries, you get put in the line and have to wait. We have much more flexibility. In major cities, 80 percent of people have [post-secondary] education, almost everybody speaks English. It's a practical destination."