Canada Welcomes Stakeholders to World Economic Forum Conference on Mineral Development and Annual Meeting of Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada

February 28 to March 4, 2015
Toronto, Ontario

From February 28 to March 4, 2015, the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, the Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, and the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular), will participate in a series of meetings in Toronto with industry leaders and other governments to support Canada’s domestic and global mining sectors.

On February 28, Minister Paradis and Minster Fast will welcome participants to the Canada-World Economic Forum Conference, which has the theme of Creating and Sharing Value Through Mineral Development. This conference, organized by Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), is an annual event held on the margins of the PDAC Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange. The conference will explore issues such as partnership and collaboration in the mining sector, unlocking investment and benefits, economic diversification, and building human capacity in local communities. This third annual conference is expected to attract more than 200 participants from a broad range of Canadian and international stakeholders, including high-level representatives of developing countries, international partners, industry and civil society organizations.

During the events, Minister Paradis will focus on the WEF’s 2015 theme, The New Global Context, to emphasize the importance of public-private partnerships in achieving development goals, as well as on Canada’s leadership in advancing global action on local economic development in the extractive sectors of developing countries.

Minister Fast will meet with his counterparts to promote world-class Canadian extractive- sector companies, highlight the economic advantages of investing in Canada and demonstrate the ways in which Canada is a world leader in environmentally, ethically and socially responsible practices in the extractive industry at home and abroad.

Minister Yelich will take the opportunity to profile Canada’s consular services for Canadian business travel around the world, and she will meet with stakeholders to emphasize the importance of the potash industry to the Canadian economy.