In building upon the North American success of Filtrec, a European filter manufacturer in Northern Ontario, the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corp. is focusing on northern Italy for an upcoming trade mission to attract European investment to Northern Ontario.
FedNor is contributing $50,000 towards a business investment-marketing mission to the Lombardy Region (Milan, Bergamo and Brescia) in June 2004.
Sault MP Carmen Provenzano announced the funding on behalf of Minister of State Joe Comuzzi in Sault Ste. Marie, Dec. 17.
"We are working towards a successful mission to Northern Italy in June 2004 and currently have interested parties from areas collaborating on ways to bring their technology to Canada," says John Febbraro, the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corp.'s director of industrial marketing.
"In addition, distributorship agreements have been signed with local companies with the hope that manufacturing will occur within the next few years in the Sault.
"Our aim is to use the successful Filtrec North America model, a hydraulic filter manufacturer from northern Italy."
Preliminary discussions with Italian businesses have been encouraging, say development officials. Canada is viewed as the gateway into the United States market under NAFTA.
The Sault Ste. Marie EDC is seeking business participants from the region to explore technology transfer, partnerships, joint ventures or licensing arrangements with Italian businesses.
The city is developing an International Relationship Strategy, identifying Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Finland and the U.S. as countries that offer significant market potential.
