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Geography
British Columbia is located on the Pacific coast and is Canada's westernmost province.

Capital
Victoria
(on Vancouver Island)

Premier
Mr. Gordon Campbell
(June 2001-present)

Landspace and Population
British Columbia's total land and freshwater area is 952,263 sq.km. larger than France and Germany combined. British Columbia takes up about 10 per cent of Canada's land surface. British Columbia is Canada's third largest province with a population of almost 4.1 million people. 2 million people live in Vancouver, British Columbia's largest city.

History and Culture
BC entered Canadian confederation in 1871. Each year, approximately 35,000 immigrants from around the world arrive in BC，so BC is home to people of many different origins, cultural traditions, languages, ethnicities, and religions. The top 10 languages spoken by British Columbians are: English, Chinese (Cantonese/Mandarin), Punjabi, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Tagalog, Spanish and Japanese.

Economy and Industry
In 2001, overall GDP was $130 billion, about 12 per cent of the country's total GDP. In 2001, per capita GDP was $31,835, while per capita personal disposable income was $26,587. The economy is trade driven with exports valued at $31 billion in 2001, representing almost 25 per cent of provincial GDP. It is estimated that one in four jobs depends directly and indirectly on exports. In 2001, 71 percent of provincial exports were shipped to the US. Exports to the People's Republic of China stood at $2.5 billion in 2001. Tourism is a major part of the provincial economy. During 2000, $9.5 billion was spent by 22 million overnight visitors traveling in the province. While forestry, mining, fishing and agriculture remain important to BC's economy, there is strong growth in new industries such as eco-tourism, agri-tourism, film and high tech.

Establishment of Sister Province/State Relationship
On Sep. 7, 1995, Mr. ZHU Senlin, Governor of GD Province and Mr. Michael Harcourt, Premier of BC signed the Agreement to establish the Sister Province Relationship.

Friendly Exchanges
Substantive exchanges and cooperation have been carried out in economy, trade, education, legal systems between British Columbia and Guangdong and other fields.

• In terms of Education exchanges, GD Provincial Government has so far sent 39 senior officials to the University of British Columbia (UBC) for one-year training since 1999 for four consecutive years.
• In terms of legal exchanges, the delegation of BC Society of Law Courts Education visited Guangzhou in Jan. 2000 and with GD GD People's Procuratorate, co-hosted the Seminar on Sino-Canadian Approaches to Prosecution. The second visit of the society brought about the successful seminar on Sino-Canadian Pulic Law Education jointly hosted with the Legal Department of GD Province in Dec. 2001.
• In terms of economy and trade, Mr. TANG Bingquan, Vice Governor of GD Province led a business delegation to BC in Sep. 2001 and held a GD Promotion Fair.

Seminar on Sino-Canadian Approaches to Prosecution

Signing of GD Senior Administrative Personnel Training Agreement

Editor: Wing