Press Release
Québec-Brazil Mission 2012:
the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal reports positive results
Montréal, April 13, 2012 – The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal and its team of international trade experts, the World Trade Centre Montréal, are proud to have contributed to the trade mission to Brazil led and funded by the Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade (MDEIE), Mr. Sam Hamad, in collaboration with the MDEIE’s Export Québec unit, and the Québec Government Office in São Paulo. This mission allowed for a number of business meetings to take place between the participants and companies, as well as high-level Brazilian decision-makers.
“The outcome of this large-scale mission is very positive. Through the joint efforts of the MDEIE team and the Board of Trade, over 50 organizations and businesses benefitted from business development guidance in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, making this the largest mission to South America in which the Board of Trade has participated,” stated Michel Leblanc, President and CEO of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.
“The presence of Québec Premier, Mr. Jean Charest, notably at a talk he gave on Québec-Brazil relations and the Plan Nord project, drew Brazilian media attention to our delegation, which allowed the mission’s participants to be particularly well received by their Brazilian counterparts,” continued Michel Leblanc.
“During seminars organized by the Board of Trade in these two cities, businesses were able to meet with key resources that offered time and advice to facilitate their next steps on the Brazilian market, which, among other things, you’ll recall, is anticipating private and public investment projects totalling about $2 trillion USD by 2015. Even in the age of telecommunications, direct contact remains the best way of building one’s network in Brazil, and thereby increasing one’s access to eventual business partners on the market,” added Michel Leblanc.
For certain businesses, a mission such as this is perfectly in keeping with their globalization strategies. This is notably the case for R3D Consulting, a leader in the field of major technology project management. “This mission allowed us to make progress with an important potential client, which should soon result in the signing of a major contract in Brazil,” stated Robert Desbiens, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Strategy, at R3D Consulting.
For Serge Gonçalves, Vice-President of Operations and Co-owner of Momentium Conseil, “this mission took place in an atmosphere of mutual assistance. Not only did it allow us to meet potential Brazilian clients, we were also able to build lasting relationships with entrepreneurs from here at home. This group experience allowed us to share our best practices with a view towards meeting the challenges of developing one’s business in Brazil.”
The mission to Brazil has also enabled the Board of Trade to strengthen its ties with counterpart organizations. “The Board of Trade team joined Minister Hamad at a meeting with the President of the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FIRJAN), an organization representing over 9,000 Brazilian businesses. As a result of this discussion, FIRJAN is planning to bring a delegation of business people from the state to Québec next September,” concluded Michel Leblanc.
Through its team of experts at the World Trade Centre Montréal, the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal provides international trade services to the greater business community, with the support of Canada Economic Development.
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Source:
Sylvie Paquette
Advisor, Media Relations
Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal
Phone: 514-871-4000, extension 4015
sylvie.paquette@ccmm.qc.ca
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