International trade and investment

Do you want to increase your sales and revenue, grow your business and expand your markets? Trade and investment are key components of a thriving, more prosperous Atlantic Canada. ACOA wants to help you grow your business in markets near and far because when companies succeed abroad, they create jobs here at home and help grow our economy.

Our role

ACOA is the federal department in Atlantic Canada with a strong on-the ground presence and deep links to businesses, stakeholders and communities. The Agency is well equipped to help businesses succeed in global markets, and to assist the provinces in attracting foreign investment to the region.

What we do:

• Encourage and demystify doing business in global markets: ACOA provides support, resources and expertise, including assessment tools, information sessions and export plan development to help you determine how exporting can help your company grow.
• Prepare you for exporting, and all that comes with it: ACOA provides support and services to help you gain the insight, skills and personalized business strategies needed to enter international markets through activities such as training, coaching, research and competitive intelligence.
• Connect you to world markets: ACOA provides resources and expertise to help you get your products and services to market through direct and indirect support for hiring an export manager, and for designing and implementing your export plan. For example, ACOA provides financial support for designing new labels, packaging, promotional materials and websites. We can also help you with advertising and product demonstrations to target new markets and with participating in trade shows and other in-market activities.

Diversify and thrive:

Global markets are changing at a rapid pace. Trade diversification is about securing more opportunities for Canadian exporters and investors to compete and succeed in emerging and fast growing global markets and sectors.

Trade diversification:

• Helps Atlantic Canadian exporters and investors to compete and succeed in emerging and fast growing global markets and sectors;
• Increases a company’s resilience to volatile or shrinking markets;
• Generates economic growth by increasing productivity.

Trade and investment is one of the action areas of the Atlantic Growth Strategy designed to expand business activities between Atlantic Canada and international markets. Through AGS investments, we will:

• Double the number of exporters in Atlantic Canada;
• Increase the value of Atlantic exports by 30%;
• Increase to 40% the percentage of Atlantic firms who export into more than one market;
• Increase foreign investment in Atlantic Canada.

Looking to diversify your markets?

If you are an ambitious company or co-operative in need of export development funding, the Business Scale-up and Productivity stream of the Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program helps businesses to accelerate their growth and assists with the adoption of innovative technologies that support scale-up, productivity and global competitiveness as well as the development of and entry into new markets.

Contact the ACOA office nearest you to find out more, or send an e-mail to our export development team.

Our partners in export development:

Atlantic Canada and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon

Learn more about the Regional Joint Cooperation Commission between Atlantic Canada and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.