At a signing ceremony held today in Montréal, His Excellency Alain Berset, President and Federal Councillor for Interior Affairs of the Swiss Confederation, and the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, alongside the Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, jointly signed a modernized audiovisual coproduction treaty between Canada and Switzerland. The ceremony took place on the sidelines of the CINEMANIA Film Festival in Montréal, where Switzerland is this year's featured country.
Canada and Switzerland enjoy strong and diversified cultural relations built on shared values. Over the past decade, the two countries have created six coproductions, with combined budgets of over $21.4 million.
This new coproduction treaty will replace the current one, signed in 1987. It will be more advantageous for both countries' audiovisual industries and for the development of economic and cultural exchanges. This treaty will make it easier for Swiss and Canadian professionals to collaborate on film, television and video projects. It will provide a more modern and flexible coproduction framework that reflects the modern filming reality and future direction. The treaty represents the culmination of an ambitious joint effort by Switzerland and the Government of Canada and is one of the latter's initiatives to modernize international coproduction treaties.
The ratification and implementation of this new treaty involves several stages. When it comes into effect, it will create significant new commercial and cultural opportunities for the Canadian and Swiss audiovisual industry.
