A new Québec office in Colombia

The Legault government will invest three-quarters of a million dollars in setting up a new Quebec office in Bogota, Colombia, our Parliamentary Office has learned.

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This new representation of Québec abroad, which will be housed within the Canadian Embassy in Bogota, will be headed by Marie-Hélène Bouffard.

This is the first milestone set within the framework of the Territorial Strategy for Latin America and the Antilles launched on February 7 by the Minister of International Relations, Nadine Girault.

The primary mission of the Québec Office in Bogota will be to recruit workers, in the agriculture, health and engineering sectors, in particular.

“We want to find people who will come to work here. Colombia is an important and very interesting labor pool for Quebec,” explained Minister Girault, in an interview with The newspaper.

“And it’s a population that integrates very well in Quebec,” she added.

With the new establishment of an office in Bogota, Quebec will now be able to count on 34 official representations abroad, including four in the region of Latin America and the Antilles, with those of Mexico City, São Paulo and Havana.

Markets of interest nearby

In addition to the ease for Quebec companies to do business in Colombia, Quebec also considered the strategic geographic position of Bogota, namely its proximity to other markets of interest such as Peru, Chile and Panama.

Quebec is also banking on the results of trade missions carried out on Colombian soil since 2015, which have yielded good results in the security, defense, construction, infrastructure and information technology sectors. Quebec exports to Colombia posted an average growth of 8.9% between 2015 and 2019.

The agreement reached between Quebec and the federal government to rent space inside the Canadian embassy in Bogota offers several advantages, including that of offering privileged diplomatic status to the employees who will work there.

The member for Bertrand has also confirmed that she will be a candidate again this fall. “To date, I represent myself,” said M.^me Girault.