Quebec-Italy Business

Québec and Italy enjoy a long-standing relationship. They cooperate in areas of arts and culture, in social affairs and in business and technology. In fact, for over 50 years now, the Government of Québec operates its own Delegation in Italy. This presence has allowed Québec to develop and maintain close productive ties with Italy. Québec and Italy are close economic partners.

With the recent signature of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement (CETA), we expect ties between Québec and Italy to strengthen and to intensify. For Québec companies, CETA represents huge opportunities for investment and easier access to a market of 500 million consumers. We are convinced that Italy offers remarkable business opportunities and that, more importantly, it is a bridge to the EU market.

Québec, on the other hand, is a key player between Italy and North America. The Italian and Québec economies are similar. Both value innovation and know-how and both seek expertise that can give rise to interesting networks, increased trade and strategic partnerships.

Promoting Québec & Italian Expertise

In 2014, the Government of Québec and the Lombardy Region signed a 5-year bilateral agreement relating to Research and Innovation. This agreement provides for collaborations in advanced manufacturing, as applied to aerospace, agri-food and micro and nanotechnologies industries. This agreement, which promotes Québec and Italian expertise, will lead to the creation of joint research projects and allow researchers greater mobility.

Agreement

DOING BUSINESS IN A MULTIPOLAR WORLD

The IT revolution, communications and e-business have pushed us into a new universe. From now on we are living in the era of interconnections and economic partnerships.

Prof. Christian Deblock
International Political Economics
UQAM

Québec’s Economic Priorities

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

HEALTH

Trade in goods between Italy and Québec

Evolution of trade

Between January and November 2019, trade in goods between Québec and Italy amounted to C$3.285 billion, an increase of 33% since 2014 and a 3.85% increase since 2018.

As one of Québec’s five leading markets in Europe, Italy represents an ideal port of entry for Québec companies to the countries in the Mediterranean basin due to its strategic geographic location and economic relations with these countries.

Source : Statistics Canada