Around sixty delegates from the Ketchikan Gateway Borough are converging on Canadian shores this weekend for a trade mission hosted by the City of Prince Rupert.
The delegates will network with counterparts in the community, hear presentations and enjoy some local tours.
Prince Rupert and Port Edward Economic Development Officer Derek Baker and City Administrative Assistant Candice Campbell have been busy putting the program together over the last month in preparation and were finalizing details on Wednesday afternoon.
The weekend will kick off with an opening reception on Friday evening at the Crest Hotel where 40 local delegates have been invited to participate.
“We have the Port of Prince Rupert giving its Prince Rupert 2020 presentation on Saturday morning, which outlines some of the growth potential that we have and what some of their development plans are,” said Baker.
Afterwards the delegates will tour the Fairview Container Terminal hosted by Maher Terminals.
“They’ll take them right down on the dock and give them a little bit of insight about how big the operation actually is down there. I don’t know if you’ve ever been down there, but when you stand right under those cranes you realize those things are pretty big,” Baker added.
Later representatives from Canadian Border Services and U.S. Customs will facilitate a discussion with Ketchikan people interested in importing Canadian products and exporting American products.
The day will then break into what Baker described as a “touristy” type of tour out to North Pacific Historic Fishing Village.
From there it will be time for some of the delegates to get physical.
“There’s around 20 soccer players in the group that are hoping to play a few games on Saturday with Prince Rupert players when they are here,” said Baker, adding that details of the possible games are still being worked out and a time hadn’t been finalized.
The plan is for everyone to go and watch the games.