Canada trade mission pays dividends in Tampa Bay area

December 8, 2015

 
 
Tampa Tribune
 
An October trade mission to Toronto involving 70 Tampa Bay area business leaders and government officials has resulted in $4.1 million in projected sales.
 
The Tampa Bay Export Alliance, a cooperative effort of the Pinellas County Economic Development and the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp., led the trade mission, which also is expected to lead some Canadian companies to expand in this region.
 
The mission agenda included the specialized Gold Key program arranged by the U.S. Commercial Service that allows businesspeople to meet one-on-one with business officials in foreign countries. Nine Bay area companies participated in site visits, briefings, investment meetings and business roundtables.
 
“Our goal is to increase exports for our local companies,” said Mike Meidel, director of Pinellas County Economic Development. “These sales projections are a good start, and we’ll continue to track results from our companies to measure our progress, evaluate the effectiveness of our preparations and set expectations for future initiatives.”