Happy Holidays!
The Ministère des Relations internationales wishes you a Happy Holiday Season!

Québec appoints UNESCO representative
Michel Audet, a full professor at the social science faculty at Université Laval, has been appointed as Québec’s permanent representative within the Canadian Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, in Paris. He will be Québec’s first official representative to a United Nations agency.

Cultural diversity convention to come into force in March 2007
The Government of Québec salutes the ratification by a 30th country of the Convention on the Promotion and Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, filed today with UNESCO. The 30th ratification (the application threshold) means that the Convention will come into force on March 18, 2007.

Québec guest of honour at Christmas market in Liège
Year in, year out, the Village de Noël in Liège, Belgium, draws over a million visitors. For the 20th edition of the Christmas market, the organizers have invited Québec to take part as a guest of honour. Throughout December, people from Liège, the rest of Belgium and around the world will have a chance to buy Québec products and handicrafts. The market is an opportunity to hunt down original gifts — and a great excuse for an array of outdoor activities.

Mexico’s first Québec studies chair
The first Québec studies chair has been created in Mexico, thanks to a partnership between the Université de Sherbrooke and the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. The academic chair is aimed at heightening awareness of Québec expertise and stimulating tangible collaboration between the two universities in the scientific, cultural, social and economic sectors.

Talking business in Brazil
Business was high on the agenda last week during a trip to São Paulo by Benoît Pelletier, Québec’s Minister responsible for Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs. Pelletier was asked to launch a seminar on cutting-edge technologies organized by the Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo (FIESP), Latin America’s leading industry federation. About a dozen Québec businesses took part in the event.

Convention on cultural diversity: Ratification status a year later
On December 9, 2005, the Director-General of UNESCO and the President of the 33rd session of UNESCO’s General Conference signed the Convention on the Promotion and Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, adopted on October 20, 2005, by the General Conference. Their signatures formalized the Convention, drafted in six languages, and paved the way to ratification by the UNESCO member states.

Research and innovation keys to economic development
To ensure its economic development in a highly competitive international context, Québec is concentrating more than ever on research and innovation. Over the next three years, the Government of Québec will invest close to a billion dollars to bolster public and private research and enhance infrastructure. These efforts are included in the new Québec research and innovation strategy unveiled recently by Premier Jean Charest.

Brussels: Symposium on access to information in Québec and European institutions
Lack of information and the insufficient transparency of European institutions have been cited as reasons for certain countries’ reluctance to adopt the proposed European constitution, and the issue of access to government information is the topic of numerous debates among European information professionals and politicians. At the initiative of the Délégation générale du Québec à Bruxelles (Québec Government Office in Brussels), a symposium on issues related to access to government information is being held today in the European capital. It will be attended by journalists and information professionals, as well as European Parliament political staff and civil servants.

QUÉBEC@EUROPE: new strategic information newsletter
In association with the Jean Monnet Chair at the University of Montreal, the Ministère des Relations internationales is pleased to announce the launch of QUÉBEC@EUROPE, a monthly electronic newsletter focusing on Québec-European Union relations.

Québec takes part in Jacques Cartier symposium
Thousands of academics, experts, artists, businesspeople and political leaders from over 40 countries participate each year in a symposium called “Les Entretiens du Centre Jacques-Cartier” (ECJC) — an opportunity to share experience, discuss social issues and forge links in the fields of scientific research, social economics and culture. An imposing Québec delegation of close to 250 people is taking part in the 19th edition of the ECJC, which gets under way today in Lyon, France.

India: The stage is set
Although relations between Québec and India are recent, they are promising. Less than one year ago, Premier Jean Charest conducted a first official mission to that country in order to position Québec as a strategic North American partner. Today, the day after an economic mission attended by some 60 leaders in business, research and education, it is reasonable to say that the stage is set for developing more sustained relations with India, an economic powerhouse in the making.

Québec Without Borders Day: All Out Solidarity
Québec Without Borders Day brings together hundreds of young people gearing up for an international solidarity experience. Last Saturday, some 400 took part in the seventh edition of this annual event.

Optics/photonics picked as theme for this year’s Rencontres technologiques
The optics/photonics sector is an integral component of Québec innovation strategies. Given the wide array of dynamic companies in this sector, it is no surprise that Québec is home to the largest number of photonics research centres in Canada. The choice of optics/photonics as the theme for the 18th edition of an event called “Rencontres technologiques,” which gets under way today, also comes as no surprise. The annual event is aimed at promoting dialogue and networking between France and Québec in cutting-edge technology sectors.

Convention on cultural diversity: Blitz in Rio
As many countries as possible have to ratify UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions to maximize the impact of the international instrument, which recognizes the right of states to support the cultural sector: this is the message that the Government of Québec’s representative wants to get across at the Ninth Annual Ministerial Meeting of the International Network on Cultural Policy (INCP), which got under way yesterday in Rio de Janeiro.