Nov. 28 – A number of Puglia firms flew to Montreal to meet new business partners. The participating companies are part of the project “Puglia Region-Canada 2012.” 80 meetings are scheduled with operators in the food, tourism and the creative industries sectors, and institutions. Meetings with members of the Puglia community in Canada, the leaders of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada and Italian-Canadian media services are also scheduled. These are the stages of the trade mission to Canada of the seven companies involved in the project. A detailed program that began a few months ago is now entering its final phase. The first stage was the selection of nine young Canadians with origins from Puglia. Young people have supported the Puglia operating companies by creating a program that analyzes the business opportunities of each firm in the Canadian market. Potential Canadian partners were then identified, and finally the meetings between them and their Puglia counterparts were organized. “We are establishing important relationships with Canada,” said Vice-President and Councilor for Economic Development of the Region of Puglia, Loredana Capone. “This project is so important to us, and it has been organized with attention to every detail. The aim is to make our business gain new opportunities in a market like Canada’s, intensely interested in Made in Puglia products thanks to the presence of a large representation of Puglia. It is not a random choice: here we have exported goods to €47 million in 2011 and €25.7 million in the first half of 2012. We believe that this project will further enhance the opportunities for our companies in traditional sectors such as agribusiness, tourism and the creative industry.”
