"In light of the challenges presented by COVID-19, this week the Government of Canada announced the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service's CanExport SMEs program is pivoting to better support small- and medium-sized businesses by covering some of the costs associated with developing and expanding their e-commerce presence, attending virtual trade shows and other business-to-business events and, help them to navigate new COVID-19-related trade barriers.
CanExport SMEs offers small- and medium-sized businesses up to $75,000 to assist with international market development activities in markets where they have little to no sales. Since international travel is currently restricted due to COVID-19, these new measures will help many of the agri-food businesses continue to promote their products internationally.
These expansions are key for the thousands of small agriculture and agri-food businesses from across the country who continue trying to break into global markets amid COVID-19.
Since we opened the CanExport SMEs program to small agri-food businesses in August 2019, it has already supported 173 agricultural small businesses with over $6 million in funding.
The Government of Canada has a goal of reaching $75 billion in agri-food exports by 2025, and we are supporting our entrepreneurs in the industry to help reach that target. Through recent trade deals, agri-food businesses now have preferential access to 2/3 of the world market. We also recently launched a refresh of our Canada Brand marketing initiative to use new graphics and tools for today's digital platforms.
Canada has the ability to be breadbasket of the world. We will continue to put in place the tools and support needed for agri-food businesses of all sizes to take advantage of the many opportunities in markets around the world.
Just as many agri-food businesses are adjusting to the lost opportunity normally offered by dozens of key trade shows abroad, the Government of Canada is adapting to deliver the support they need to marketing their high-quality products.
I encourage the many hard-working owners and managers of small- and medium-sized agri-food businesses to look into this program and apply today!"
