News release: World Trade Centre Vancouver and MAPLE Business Council sign MOU
For Immediate Release
October 17, 2018
VANCOUVER, B.C. — We are very pleased to announce that World Trade Centre Vancouver (WTC-V) and MAPLE Business Council (MAPLE) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote greater bilateral business collaboration between Vancouver and Southern California.
The MOU reflects a mutual commitment to support each other as partner organizations by promoting Vancouver as a Canadian destination for U.S. businesses seeking to penetrate the Canadian market and to highlight the mission and cross-border programming of MAPLE Business Council to Vancouver area businesses.
MAPLE is represented in British Columbia by Vancouver-based, Jason Tse, who before rejoining the marketing team at the Vancouver Airport Authority in 2018, was the executive director for business development at HQ Vancouver focused on attracting international headquarters to the city. Since Tse joined MAPLE as its B.C. Business Ambassador in 2017, MAPLE has led an initial Southern California business delegation during the 2017 B.C. Tech Summit and has hosted two networking events this year to connect the Southern California and Vancouver business communities. Speakers were Stephen Cheung, President of World Trade Center Los Angeles - a partner organization to MAPLE, and Christian Spaltenstein, GM Americas for Associated Foreign Exchange.
“We are proud to be underlining our commitment to the Vancouver market with this Memorandum of Understanding,” said Tse. “With many of our members already contributing to Vancouver’s economic growth, we look forward to working with WTC-V Executive Director Austin Nairn and his team to grow our network. We invite Vancouver business leaders to look for future MAPLE events that highlight opportunities for B.C. businesses in Southern California and investments from Southern California here.”
“MAPLE has built a growing cross-border network since founding their organization three years ago,” said Austin Nairn, Executive Director of WTC-V. “As MAPLE is a leading Canadian business voice within Southern California, it makes sense for WTC-V to collaborate with them to welcome Southern California businesses to Vancouver and to connect our members with a Canadian-focused executive network within Southern California.”
The organizations signed their MOU at the offices of Dentons Canada on October 17 as part of a networking event hosted by Tse and MAPLE co-founders, Robert Kelle and Stephen Armstrong.
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About MAPLE Business Council:
MAPLE Business Council is an executive-level organization promoting cross-border investment, trade and entrepreneurship between Canada and Southern California and among Southern California businesses with Canadian connections. Its members and sponsors bring together the knowledge, expertise and resources to help businesses penetrate and excel in these markets. Learn more at maplesocal.com.
About World Trade Centre Vancouver:
World Trade Centre Vancouver is part of the World Trade Centers Association, a not-for-profit, non-partisan association dedicated to the establishment and effective operation of World Trade Centers as instruments for trade expansion. The World Trade Centers Association is an international ecosystem of global connections and integrated trade services made up of 318 World Trade Center locations in 90 countries, representing over 750,000 businesses globally. Learn more at wtcvancouver.ca.
Contact info:
Greg Hoekstra
Communications Manager
Greater Vancouver Board of Trade
604-640-5450 | media@boardoftrade.com