Brampton trade missions to India, Ireland and Portugal could attract foregin dollars

Published December 5, 2022 at 3:48 pm

An airline's flight attendants are 'vanishing' after landing at Pearson Airport in Mississauga, Ontario

They say it costs money to make money, and the City is looking to dole out funds for a trio of Brampton trade missions to drum up investments from around the world.

A report going to Committee of Council on Wednesday shows the City is eyeing trips to India, Ireland and Portugal in 2023 to promote economic growth in Brampton, focused on attracting investments to the advanced manufacturing, food and beverage processing, technology, and health and life sciences industries.

The report says there is funding of more than $680,000 in City coffers for the missions, and any additional funds required for future trips “will be requested as part of future capital budget submissions, pending Council approval.”

If Council greenlights the trade missions, Mayor Patrick Brown and other council members could be headed to India in January. The proposed trip would see City representatives visit the cities of Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Jaipur to build “strategic economic development alliances,” and on highlighting the success of Brampton’s BHive start-up incubator.

There are also plans for a trip to Ireland for the Dublin Tech Summit in May and June, and Lisbon, Portugal for the Web Summit tech conference in November. Staff could also approve additional trips throughout the year, including a Web Summit in Japan in September, and another in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In 2019, the City launched a branding, marketing and foreign direct investment (FDI) strategy to drive new investment and jobs in the city. But the COVID-19 pandemic greatly reduced foreign investment numbers across Canada, and the report showed Canada’s FDI for the second quarter of 2020 was $10.8 billion – a 46.9 per cent drop from the $20.3 billion in investments from the same time in Q2 of 2019.

Now with pandemic restrictions over, the City is hoping to attract global business leaders to Brampton.

“The Economic Development Office will continue to develop plans, projects and initiatives that focus on attracting investment in key markets to bring jobs and investment to the city,” the report reads.

The report will go to committee on Wednesday before needing Council approval.

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