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Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu will begin his official visit to Quebec in Montreal next Monday, on an institutional, economic, and cultural initiative.  The Lehendakari will travel to Montreal, Quebec, and will also go to Ottawa, on a trip that will strengthen political, historical and cultural ties.  The delegation from the Basque Government will hold meetings with authorities and institutions in Quebec, with the business, academic and cultural world, as well as with the local Basque community. 

Vitoria-Gasteiz.   The trip, the first that a Lehendakari has taken to the francophone province, is part of a scenario of opportunities for Quebec as well as the Basque Country.  Opportunities in the areas of intuitional relationships with the first agreements between both governments; culture as well as economic after the approval of the CETA accord.  Along with Scotland, Quebec is a model of reconciliation of the principle of legality and the democratic principle through an agreed and legal consultation highlighted by the Basque Government.

During its stay, the Basque Government delegation will also hold institutional meetings with the Prime Minister of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, who they will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with.  They will also meet with members of the Quebec Parliament as well as the Vice-Prime Minister and Mister of Economics, Innovation and Science.

The Lehendakari is also expected to give two talks: one at the Council of International Relations of Montreal (CORIM), and another at the University of Laval, one of the largest in the country.

In the Business arena, the Basque delegation will see firsthand some examples of international Basque companies, and the leading sectors in Quebec, like Orbinox.  The Lehendakari will also visit IREQ, one of the international references in the I & D field of energy.

They are also expected to meet next Monday with the local Basque community and approach the legacy left by Basque whalers by signing an agreement with Parks Canada the federal agency that manages the cultural and natural heritage.  Finally, they will also meet representatives in Global Affairs (Foreign Affairs, International Business and Cooperation) of the Federal Government.

This will be the fifth trip that the Lehendakari has taken abroad.  With these visits the Basque Government, led by the Lehendakari, seeks to continue projecting the Basque Country strategy abroad, through institutional, political, economic and cultural encounters as well as alliances with other countries.  Quebec will then become part of the network of strategic alliances of six leading regions (Aquitaine, Bavaria, Flanders, Querétaro, Jiangsu, and Cundinamarca).

Relationship Euskadi-Quebec

An historic relationship exists between Euskadi and Quebec that can serve as a basis to establish future lines of cooperation.  In the cultural field, its historic relationship goes back to the time of the Basque whalers who settled in Quebec.  The coastal territories of Quebec have known this presence for centuries.  In Trois Pistoles there is a Basque Adventure Park a few kilometers from the province of Newfoundland and Labrador where remains of the first “international implantation” of the Basques, fishing and the whaling industry exist.  Today, the Euskaldunak of Quebec Basque Association in Montreal is the glue that binds the local Basque community.