Atlanta Mission Bodes Well for Business

Premier John Hamm is heading down to Georgia next week with 10 Nova Scotia businesses -- many of them from the high-tech IT sector -- on a Team Canada Atlantic trade mission to Atlanta, looking to make some deals.

The Nova Scotia contingent has good reason for optimism.

"These trade missions work," said Premier Hamm. "Nova Scotia companies sold more than $24 million worth of goods and services as a direct result of trade missions last year -- everything from seafood to building products, to high-end IT packages. We''re committed to aggressively pursuing new job opportunities through marketing and trade, and this Atlanta mission is one very good example of that."

Representing a diverse range of expertise from the high-tech computer software to metal fabricating sectors, the Team Canada Atlantic delegation will be building new business partnerships, increasing trade and investment, and building strategic alliances between businesses in Atlantic Canada and the Southern United States.

The Southern U.S. has been the fastest growing area in the United States over the past six years. In 1999, Canada’s exports to the region exceeded $22 billion. This is about three times Canada''s exports to Japan, the number 2 country among export markets.

Atlanta is the economic hub of the South. Most of the Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the Southeast are based in Atlanta, and opportunities for trade exist in virtually every sector.

Shawn Levangie from Dartmouth’s Trailblazer Saws believes the trade-mission format works well for Atlantic Canadian companies.

"We’ve been to trade shows since 1990 and we had more efficient response from the Boston Trade Mission in 2000 than from any show," said Mr. Levangie. So much so that the knife and saw manufacturer has changed his company’s budget model to target trade missions ahead of shows. "You get to go right to the place of business and develop relationships faster as a result of being there," he explained.

Trailblazer hopes to increase its distribution as a result of the pending trade mission. A meeting with Home Hardware in Atlanta has Mr. Levangie particularly excited. "It could be enormous," he said.

Kevin Muise runs ELKS Fabrication in New Waterford. His company’s focus is on expanding its custom fabrication orders to the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S., and investing in the trade mission is a vital step along the way.

"I’ve got eight confirmed appointments down there and I’ll be working flat out,” he said. “To get work from just one of them would be great -- the money is in exporting right now."

Mr. Muise is excited about the potential for his company from plans to build more power plants in the Eastern U.S. ELKS Fabrication was also a member of a Cape Breton trade mission to Iceland in January and is starting to see some results from that. "Since then I’ve been bidding on jobs over there with 12 companies and I’m getting close."

Team Canada Atlantic is a federal-provincial-private partnership that works to increase exporting opportunities for Atlantic Canadian companies. The 2001 Atlanta Trade Mission, May 13-17, is being organized by ACOA, the four Atlantic provinces, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Industry Canada, and the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.

While the core activity of the mission will be a matchmaking program between companies from Atlantic Canada and the Atlanta region, federal and provincial governments will also take advantage of this mission to pursue investment opportunities.

Based on the success of previous trade missions, ACOA has embarked on a program that will see at least two Team Canada Atlantic trade missions a year. Information about Team Canada Atlantic’s co-ordinated export development approach is available on the Team Canada Atlantic web site at: www.TeamCanadaAtlantic.com