Export support - Quebec and Ottawa Invest Over $17.9 Million to Boost Quebec Businesses Exports

QUEBEC CITY, Aug. 6, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED)

The governments of Quebec and Canada are providing $17,945,330 in renewed funding over the course of the next three years for most of the regional export promotion organizations (ORPEXes)¹ to allow them to pursue their efforts to assist businesses in their respective regions with their export projects and ensure that the businesses are better prepared to market their products and services outside Quebec.

The announcement was made today by Dominique Anglade, Deputy Premier, Minister of the Economy, Science and Innovation, and Minister responsible for the Digital Strategy, together with the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions.

The Quebec Ministère de l'Économie, de la Science et de l'Innovation (MESI) will provide a total of $7,020,000 in non-repayable contributions granted under the Export Program (PEX). For its part, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) will provide $8,095,980 for the ORPEXes' activities, as well as a special envelope of $2,829,350 to ensure support and coaching for innovation projects in growing SMEs, for a total of $10,925,330 in non-repayable contributions.

Among other things, ORPEXES help businesses

• develop an international business plan;
• obtain export information;
• organize the process for entering foreign markets;
• receive a diagnosis of their export capacity;
• find out about funding opportunities for their export projects;
• get specialized training.

Quotes

"For many years, the Quebec Ministère de l'Économie, de la Science et de l'Innovation has been counting on the support of ORPEXes, a network of partner organizations that provide a regional support service for businesses looking to export. To bolster exports, it is essential to inform and raise awareness among SMEs about the potential benefits associated with foreign markets. By exporting their goods and services, SMEs can showcase their know-how and talent on the international stage, thus increasing promising business opportunities. Encouraging export projects is part of our economic vision for Quebec as a whole; it is also one of the objectives of the 2016–2020 Quebec export strategy, which is designed to help our businesses make their mark in a highly competitive global market."

Dominique Anglade, Deputy Premier, Minister of the Economy, Science and Innovation and Minister responsible for the Digital Strategy

"CED is proud to have been funding the ORPEXes since their creation in 1990. Unique to Quebec, these organizations contribute, not only to the attainment of CED's global business commercialization and positioning targets for businesses, but also to the targeted 30% increase in Canadian exports by 2025, an ambitious goal that the Government of Canada has set for itself. By focusing on the importance of innovation, this renewed funding will equip Quebec businesses with tools to favourably position themselves in a highly competitive global ecosystem."

The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for CED

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1}. The list of ORPEXes can be found in the appendix below.

Highlights

• ORPEXes (link in French only) provide the regional offices of the MESI and Export Québec with support for export-related training, preparation and awareness activities for businesses in their respective regions. Each organization is tasked with contributing to the achievement of measures 2 and 7 of the 2016–2020 Quebec export strategy (in French only), namely to provide better guidance as concerns businesses' export strategies, and to prepare and deliver market development, logistics and marketing training. They are also required to promote exporting to businesses.
• The Government of Quebec has launched the 2016–2020 Quebec export strategy, which has a budget of $536.8 million. The objective of the strategy is to assist 4,000 businesses in their exporting operations.
• The objectives of the PEX (in French only) include raising awareness among Quebec businesses of the growth potential associated with exporting and, subsequently, supporting these businesses in the capturing and diversification of foreign markets.
• CED is one of the six regional development agencies under the responsibility of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.
• This year marks the 50th anniversary of federal regional economic development in Quebec: half a century of concrete action dedicated to the development of the regions and local businesses.

Related links:

• To find out more about CED and its priorities, see the 2018–2019 Departmental Plan or visit www.dec-ced.gc.ca.
• To receive real-time news releases from the Ministère de l'Économie, de la Science et de l'Innovation, subscribe to the appropriate RSS news feed at www.economie.gouv.qc.ca/rss.

MESI on social media:

• Twitter: twitter.com/economie_quebec
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EconomieQc
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/362721
• YouTube:www.youtube.com/user/MDEIEQuebec

CED on social media:

• Follow CED on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

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SOURCE Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions