Change is coming to the French consulate in Vancouver.
Consul general Nicolas Baudouin, who has been in the job since September 2021, is in his last week in Vancouver before returning to his home country to head the Oceania division of France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, he told BIV Tuesday afternoon.
New consul general Raphaël Dang is set to arrive in Vancouver in September.
Dang has been in Paris in the office of the minister advisor on the U.N., global issues and legal affairs, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Like Baudouin, Dang would be the consul general for B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
Long a member of France’s diplomatic service, Baudouin is used to short stints in foreign countries.
“I’ve done assignments of three or four years,” he said. “It depends. Three years in Taiwan, four years in Cambodia, four years here. It's usually up to four years. That's the maximum duration of the assignments.”
A big part of his job is helping stimulate a business climate where partnerships and trade can flourish.
Baudouin mentioned helping create an environment where the Chamber of Commerce and Industry France-Western Canada (CCIFWC) could arise.
This is distinct from the Francophone Chamber of Commerce of Vancouver.
The CCIFWC, created recently, was born from the evolution of the French Executive Circle, a business network which had been bringing together Francophone and Francophile business leaders in Western Canada for several years, according to its website.
As the network grew, so did the need for a more structured, visible, and action-oriented platform to support bilateral trade, investment, and collaboration.
“After trying to bring our business community together and getting that story out, we managed to get a critical mass of business people — either working for French companies or for Canadian companies based here — to come together and have this chamber,” he said.
Another illustration of strong French relations with B.C. companies was how the B.C. government sent former minister of jobs, economic development and innovation, Diana Gibson, and former minister of state for trade, Rick Glumac, to Paris for the technology trade show VivaTech, as part of a European trade mission.
Canada was featured prominently at that trade show and the ministers took business leaders from approximately 18 B.C. companies, Baudouin said.
France is also readying to be the theme country at the next Vancouver International Wine Festival, slated for March 7 through 14, 2026.
France does not factor highly as a destination for B.C. exports, and BC Stats did not break France out from Western Europe in its most recent report on exports.
Back in 2019, BC Stats listed helicopters, airplanes and spacecraft as the top B.C.-origin exports to France, at $20.2-million worth.
“I think it's Dash 8 retrofitted water bombers from Conair,” he said.
Imports to B.C. from France are harder to track as products could enter Canada in other provinces and get shipped west.
Baudouin said companies such as Decathlon, Schneider Electric and Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy do brisk business in B.C.
“We also have infrastructure companies, one in the transit sector is Alstom, which is providing the rolling stock for TransLink,” he said.
