The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal is proud to announce the signing of a new type of partnership agreement with the ministère des Relations avec les citoyens et de l'Immigration (MRCI) to promote the integration of business immigrants and candidates within the Greater Montreal business community. This agreement represents a strategic addition to the Board of Trade's service offer at a time when Quebec is facing a sizable demographic challenge. Within the next decade, the net growth in Greater Montreal's labour force will depend solely on immigration. It is thus imperative that, collectively, we develop the means not only to attract but above all to retain immigrants and that we implement innovative solutions to integrate them quickly and efficiently into the business community, declared Benoit Labonté, president and CEO of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.
If we have worked actively with the MRCI to establish this partnership, it is because we firmly believe that business immigrants are an essential source of wealth and that the strong growth of our competitiveness depends on their contributions. This agreement therefore reflects our determination to rise to this demographic challenge by becoming concretely involved in attracting, welcoming, and facilitating the integration of qualified, entrepreneurial immigrants an essential component of the economic development of our metropolis and of Quebec, continued Labonté.
In particular, this partnership agreement encompasses the welcoming of business delegations, a business mentoring program, networking activities enabling immigrants to forge links with Quebec entrepreneurs and develop their network of business contacts, and personalized support services to meet more specific needs such as finding a location or providing professional support.
For the Board of Trade, it was vital to quickly take concrete steps, with the help of our large business network, to increase the number of immigrants from the business category because of their structuring contribution to Quebec's economy. Within the context of this new partnership with the MRCI, the Board of Trade will organize activities aiming to promote Quebec to foreign business people and inform them of the many advantages of setting up on Quebec soil. In addition, the Board of Trade will establish a program to welcome and offer personalized support to these immigrants, helping them forge close ties with the Montreal business community. All of our actions will be deployed with a constant concern for playing an active role in the success of business immigrants and the development of their full potential within our society, concluded Labonté.
The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal has some 7,000 members. Its primary mission is to represent the interests of the business community of the Greater Montreal and to provide individuals, merchants, and businesses of all sizes with a variety of specialized services to help them achieve their full potential in terms of innovation, productivity and competitiveness. The Board of Trade is Quebec's leading private economic development organization.