Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada - Canada’s trade diversification strategy is focused on securing access to new markets and supporting our businesses to reach new customers abroad, in order to create jobs for the middle class here at home.
The Honourable Jim Carr, Minister of International Trade Diversification, will be in Vancouver and Surrey, British Columbia, today to highlight how Budget 2019 is helping businesses in the province to expand their markets and increase exports, while also assisting local communities in attracting foreign direct investment.
To underscore the Government of Canada’s commitment to these goals, Minister Carr will meet with the Vancouver Economic Commission to announce CanExport - Community Investments funding in support of the commission’s goal of attracting job-creating foreign companies (that are aligned with local economic interests) to the Vancouver region. Today’s funding announcement brings the total CanExport - Community Investments funding for British Columbia communities since 2016 to $1.6 million.
In January 2019, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Minister Carr met with C.P. Gurnani, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tech Mahindra. Tech Mahindra is a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting and business re-engineering services and solutions and an excellent example of foreign direct investment successes. Facilitated by Invest in Canada and with the support of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service in Mumbai, the Vancouver Economic Commission, and British Columbia’s India Trade and Investment Office, Tech Mahindra will open a software development centre in Vancouver in summer 2019, which will create up to 100 new jobs in the Vancouver area.
Minister Carr will meet with British Columbia companies who have received CanExport funding to help increase their exporting. He will tour the production facilities of Response Biomedical, a leading manufacturer of rapid diagnostic tests, and Aspect Biosystems, a biotechnology company specializing in 3D bioprinting and tissue engineering. Minister Carr will also visit Powertech Labs, an important innovator in the British Columbia cleantech ecosystem that has leveraged the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service to expand into international markets.
To highlight opportunities that British Columbia companies now have to diversify their export markets, Minister Carr will be meeting with the Business Council of British Columbia. During a round-table discussion with council members and senior executives, he will outline the various Government of Canada programs and services that are now available to British Columbia businesses. Minister Carr will deliver the same message during a keynote address at the Surrey Board of Trade’s International Trade Awards ceremony, explaining how the government aims to make Canada the most well-connected trading economy worldwide and, ultimately, create more jobs here at home.
While Minister Carr is in Vancouver, the Forest Products Association of Canada will present him with the 2019 Forest Sector Champion award in recognition of his support for the forestry sector and his championing of trade diversification for forest products.
Source : Government Of Canada