Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee, thank you for inviting Export Development Canada to appear before this committee. We appreciate your interest in EDC's work with Canadian exporters and our perspective on helping Canadian companies to expand into international markets.
EDC is a crown corporation, mandated to help Canadian companies go, grow and succeed internationally by providing financial, insurance or expert advice as they seek to grow their business. EDC is an arms-length crown corporation and does not receive annual funding from the Government of Canada.
Since we were founded in 1944, we have helped Canadian companies of all sizes undertake more than $1.3 trillion in exports and foreign investments. We started here in Ottawa, but have since grown to establish 18 offices across Canada and 18 international representations. Most of these locations are in high-growth emerging markets.
In 2015, almost 7,500 Canadian companies used EDC services to undertake more than $104 billion in international business. This included roughly 6,000 Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises that were helped by EDC to conduct more than $15 billion in export trade and foreign investments.
Although EDC is an arm's-length organization, we share with the government's commitment to grow Canada's footprint in emerging markets. This includes helping more Canadian companies to become leaders in innovation-focused sectors, like clean technology. For example, in the past five years EDC has supported 128 clean-technology companies doing $2 billion in exports.
More broadly, EDC partners with companies across all sectors: light manufacturing, information technology, infrastructure, clean technology, natural resources, oil and gas, and transportation.
As the global economy continues to be influenced by globalization and fluctuating trade dynamics, we need to do more than ever to ensure that Canadian companies can compete and that we can continue to create an attractive investment climate.
No two companies are alike, and that means adjusting our offerings to the specific needs of trying to break into new markets. However, recent research conducted by EDC found that 65% of Canadian exporters start by exporting to the United States. The U.S. market is similar and presents lower risks. Twenty-two per cent of companies take their first international step in non-U.S. markets and others are simply born global. Approximately 13% of companies we spoke with enter multiple global markets at once.
This variety of experiences presents EDC an opportunity to help companies across all stages of their exporter journey. This includes offering economic analysis and market data, assisting with market access, or helping them to meet their corporate responsibility obligations alongside providing our traditional financing and insurance products.
This also means that EDC partners with other Government of Canada organizations, like BDC, to ensure that the entirety of a company's needs are being met. Since the signing of our formal partnership with BDC five years ago, there have been over 1,000 cross-referrals between our organizations.
EDC participates in other government-wide partnerships, like the accelerated growth service, which brings together Global Affairs, NRCan, ISED, BDC and many others in order to help high-performing, high-potential companies leverage the full benefit of government services.
Additionally, EDC works closely with Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service to introduce foreign buyers to qualified Canadian suppliers through matchmaking missions, trade shows, and one-on-one meetings.
EDC works hard to build relationships with large multinationals interested in doing business with Canadian companies, or those who have a large footprint and supply chain network in Canada. An example of this would be General Electric or India's Tata Group.
Once EDC's team has a detailed understanding of a company's supply chain and business goals, we can set up introductions to qualified Canadian companies with well-matched offers.
In 2015, EDC led 26 matchmaking events. These resulted in over 1,000 introductions between 133 foreign buyers and 450 Canadian suppliers, the vast majority of which were small and medium-sized enterprises.
When speaking to our staff spread around the globe, I am fortunate to hear incredible stories of Canadian companies of all sizes working to grow their business, secure contracts, or fulfill a once-in-a-lifetime growth opportunity.
EDC considers it a privilege to work with Canadian businesses that constantly impress us with their innovation and determination to grow to new international markets.
There is more to the EDC story, but I will stop here, and I look forward to engaging with you on any questions you might have.
Merci beaucoup.