International Trade

Dear Friend,  Tuesday with FCCQ Tomorrow morning I will be heading nord to visit with the La Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec (FCCQ) as they launch their new Programme COREX and I understand just enough French to know what that all means.

Opportunity for Trade The FCCQ, the Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce (I bet you got that part) has invited a team of commerce executives from New England to join them as they unveil their newest program to stimulate trade between Quebec and their neighbors sud de la frontière. Is This a Good Thing? If we take a look at the infrastructure changes that are being put into place on the Canadian side alone, we can see this is another step in bringing more commerce and tourism into Franklin County. Fourteen miles of four lane highway has been opened just nord de la frontière that now speeds up the commute between our businesses and and St. Jean, Brossard and Montreal. That is Good! What Are We Going to Learn? Well, here is what I see, Franklin County is one of the major gateways between nord un sud. No matter what they propose, it will most likely have to come through our neighborhood. The more we know about what le Programme CODEX offers, the better prepared we will be to welcome them as they cross la frontière. We'll know much more when we come home tomorrow afternoon than we did when we head out in the morning. I'll keep you posted.    Ah, Disaster Planning Last week we had planned to host Steve Paddock and "Disaster Recovery Planning"when disaster struck - Steve got the flu. Good thing we had a back up plan - we have rescheduled the seminar for this Thursday from 4:00 - 5:30 pm at the St. Albans Libray. Please respond to this email if you can make this rescheduled event - even if you were registered for the first one, we'd still like to hear from you yes or no. Thanks.  Did You Know? On March 14, 1909, Isaïe Préfontaine, president of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, sent his sister boards of trade a circular letter announcing the first meeting of what would become the Fédération des chambres de commerce de la province de Québec (FCCPQ) on April 15, 1909. Today, with its network of more than 140 chambers of commerce, the FCCQ represents more than 60,000 businesses and 150,000 business people involved in all sectors of the economy throughout Québec.

I heard it said this week; "The Chamber represents everybody but, not everybody is a member of the Chamber." Please make Chamber membership a part of your success strategy. Thank you for your continued support of the Chamber in your community.

Dave Southwick