The world is changing, and the business climate must also change and adapt to survive and thrive in the 21st century. Recently for the first time the Times of India Film Awards (TOIFA) were taken out of India and staged in Vancouver, British Columbia – a highly and coveted event costing the taxpayers $11 million dollars.

Top Bollywood movie stars such as Shahrukh Khan, performing the opening act, and other Indian mega movie stars put on a spectacular show front of 40,000 spectators at the BC Place Stadium.

India has over 400 plus television channels but once the event is aired it will reach over 400 million viewers. This promotion will be good for Vancouver, B.C. not only to sell its natural resources but also will boost tourism.

The event has been a controversy as to why would the BC Liberal government allocates a huge amount of resources to bring such an event, especially when India knows what B.C. has to offer because of the large South Asian population. People forgot that India has over 12 billion citizens and much of the South Asian population in Canada comes from the Punjab state, neighboring Pakistan.

People need to comprehend the long term picture which is to build stronger ties with one of the biggest and strongest economies in Asia.

If British Columbians want to retain a certain life style then they need to make greater connections not only with India but also with other Asian countries. Until now British Columbia, as well as the rest of Canada relied solely on the United States for trade and failed to realize what was happening in Asia.

Also to keep in mind that while the average age in Canada is 40 years plus, but the average age in India is 27 years old who are well educated and have money to spend. To put it in another perspective, India is now where China was 20 years ago.

In the coming years, three of the largest economies will nestle in Asia: China, India and Japan. And it will be these nations that will call the economic shots on the world stage as Europe and the US take a back stage.

These days any organization, province or country to survive and thrive need to make stronger ties with India (and China) and the rest of the emerging markets.