Okay. I hope you'll be more informed about FITT after my few minutes.
Thank you. As president and CEO of the Forum for International Trade Training, otherwise known as FITT, I am pleased to be here to speak about trade from an often overlooked perspective—the human resource lens.
FITT is Canada's national standard certification and training body for international trade practitioners—people in the business, doing the business. Our core purpose is to build international trade competence. We look at trade from the perspective that, without trade-capable people, trade will not flourish.
We work with the post-secondary educational institutions in preparing the workforce for tomorrow, and we train Canadian trade commissioners so they are better able to advise their clients on how to do trade today. We also work with Export Development Canada to support businesses in upskilling their staff in the intricacies of trade.
From our experience, regardless of the number of trade agreements we have, if business does not have trade-capable people—the right workforce—they will not be able to take full advantage of the trade agreements or the government trade programs that are available to them. Those individuals who are FITT-trained know not only what needs to be done but how to do it. Therefore, the SMEs they work for are better equipped to take advantage of trade agreements and government services.
FITT does not claim that the workforce is the foremost important factor to influence trade, but rather that a trade-capable, trade-competent team is a necessary ingredient for Canadian SMEs to attain a high level of success in diversifying their markets.
Developing international business intelligence within our companies is one of the most important things we can do to drive our exports. It is critically important because the employees who are working in international business functions often have more of a strategic role in their organizations. They make or support decisions that affect the way the company invests, how it grows and how it competes. In international business, the people working in management functions within these small and medium-sized businesses tend to be the drivers of international trade growth rather than a factor of supported growth.
Trade competencies are needed within SMEs to capitalize on the new markets that our trade agreements are creating. Although many of the same competencies are necessary to succeed locally and globally, the thousands of people that FITT has worked with over the years who are involved in trade on a day-to-day basis recognize the unique knowledge, skills and abilities required to succeed in global markets. They recognize that within exporting SMEs, there are new and different combinations of on-the-job activities, functions and responsibilities. Doing business internationally brings with it the need for new, global trade skills.
We need to support SMEs in actively building talent into their international trade-related job functions. This includes positions in, for example, business development, global marketing, logistics, sales, market research, finance, supply chains and so on. ln effect, SMEs need to have an internationally astute trade team supporting their efforts, whether they be in-house employees, outsourced support services, or government and private-sector trade advisers.
From FITT's experience, a renewed vision of trade needs to consider building international trade competence. We need to ensure SMEs have the opportunity to invest in upskilling their employees who are taking on new international business roles within these companies. This way, SMEs will be export-ready, be able to capitalize on international opportunities, know how to mitigate their risks and, therefore, be equipped to support their long-term sustainability and growth in global markets.
Our recommendation includes incorporating international business talent development within the programs and services that government is offering SMEs, and supporting SMEs in every way we can to help them build their internal trade teams. We also want to ensure that the learning approaches offered are flexible and are offered by credible sources.
A renewed vision of trade requires encouraging and supporting SMEs in building competent global business teams to take advantage of the trade agreements, and to take advantage of and know when to use the government programs and services that are available.