A $1.6-million project to support and increase global exports from Greater Victoria businesses was launched this week.
The Greater Victoria Development Agency will oversee the project over a three-year period, which includes $898,000 from the federal Western Economic Diversification department, and $600,000 from local stakeholders and institutions.
"(The project) will enable areas of Greater Victoria’s economy to perform at higher levels — specifically, the education sector, small and medium-sized export companies, and a large number of companies that need better access to key markets like the United States to service their investors and clients," said Dallas Gislason, Economic Development Officer with the GVDA. "This will lead to job creation in our community."
The cash will be used to identify 45 small and medium sized businesses who already export products, and then help those businesses sell more products abroad.
Greater Victoria’s economic exporting sectors that could benefit from the project include tourism, technology, advanced manufacturing, film production, and marine industries, Gislason said.