Quebec’s Minister of International Relations, Nadine Girault, said that the province's exports in 2021 increased by 17% compared to 2020.

Minister Girault noted that "2020 - 2021 was a record year, with more than 3,800 diplomatic actions. (...) It was truly exceptional what our 300 employees in 18 different countries were able to accomplish."

Since 2019, the year when the Ministry of International Relations began an economic transformation, economic diplomacy activities (meetings and conferences) have increased by 47%, Girault pointed out.

Both of Quebec’s representative offices in Los Angeles and Houston in the United States were upgraded to commissioner rank.

After exports declined by 7.8% in 2019 - 2020, "the recovery (...) is stronger than our import recovery," said the Quebec minister.

This is a very, very good sign because we are reducing our trade deficit. Our exports (...) reached 90 billion dollars, which is 17% more than in 2020," Girault explained.

Girault confirmed that some sectors appear more promising than others: this is particularly the case in the sectors of aerospace, aluminum, forest products, health technology, and clean technologies. She added that the Quebec government wants to export more of these products.