P.E.I.'s India trade mission leads to new joint venture company

P.E.I.'s economic development minister says its "successful" trade mission to India earlier this year has led to the creation of a new joint venture company on the Island to boost the advanced marine technology sector.

In a statement released Wednesday, the province says technology integration company Aspin Kemp & Associatesout of Charlottetown signed a memorandum of understanding with Grintex India Ltd. to develop a newcompany.

The two companieswill developtraining programsat an office inthe LaunchPad P.E.I. space in Montague.

'A successful mission'

"Aspin Kemp is excited to have established this relationship with Grintex, a vessel design company whose portfolio is very complementary with our solution-based industrial portfolio," said Aspin Kemp CEO Jason Aspin in the statement.

"Together we feel we can open many business opportunities in India and Canada that would otherwise have been inaccessible to us separately."

• P.E.I.-Ontario trade mission to India questioned

The new company will also look at fixing supply-chain gaps in purchasing programs between Canada and India.

MacDonald says that venture is "just a start." There were other economichighlights from the trip, includingIndian software company Aark Infosoftplanning toopen its first North American office in P.E.I.

"We considered it a successful mission," MacDonald said, adding that the province is anticipating a follow-up visit.

"Time will tell," he said.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |India trade mission yields prospects for P.E.I.'s food sector