Especially for the Atlantic region, CETA is going to be an amazing opportunity to open up a market unlike any others. It's the greatest market of its kind and that's why, as part of the women's entrepreneurship strategy, $10 million is being put in just for businesswomen in international trade. There is the accelerated growth service, which we kicked off in June 2016, the Business Development Bank of Canada, with the Export Development Bank of Canada, NRC, IRAP, the consular services, trade commissioner service, and then the RDAs— in your case, it would be ACOA. We know these small businesses do not have the people power to access programs.
The AGS takes high-growth, high-potential firms, because there is a lot of potential there, they just can't access the programs and services that the government offers. It provides tailored services, because it gets to know the business, to ensure that it is using its time to apply for programs that are going to deliver results, plus it's connecting the business with the right people in international markets.
There's more work to do there. We've been taking a lot of feedback on the trade commissioner service, which ones do well. We work closely with Minister Champagne on that as well. In budget 2018, EDC invested $250 million for women-led SMEs, but you're seeing more and more trade missions taking place with women in business. We make sure there are people from across the country, and then we encourage those people to make sure they're sharing that information within their networks, especially in small communities like in the Atlantic region, because people talk to people.
I will give a shout-out to ACOA. My visits to the east have been quite motivational because we don't talk about the successes of the people there. Rendez-vous is taking place in Halifax in May. I have to give a quick shout-out—I know I'm running out of time—that at Rendez-vous in Calgary, the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada brought a group of people, a group of businesses, to Rendez-vous for the first time. This year, they're bringing 41 businesses to Halifax. Not only are they going to be discovering a new market within Canada, but people are going to be there who are really proud of their market that they will be able to showcase, plus we want to open up others.
Thank you.