Minister of Canadian Heritage Melanie Joly will sign an audiovisual coproduction Memorandum of Understanding with the Belgian communities (consisting of the Flemish, French and German-speaking Belgian communities) today in Ottawa. The agreement positions Canada as a partner of choice for audiovisual coproductions.

Canada and Belgium first signed a coproduction treaty for films and shorts in 1984. Coproductions produced through the treaty include Kim Nguyen’s upcoming Alexander Skarsgard-starring The Hummingbird Project, produced by Montreal’s Item 7 and Belgium’s Belga Productions.

In addition to film copros, the Canada Media Fund and Belgium’s Wallimage, a public financing arm of the audiovisual sector of the Wallonia region, pacted in 2014 to create a financial incentive program to encourage digital media coproductions. That incentive has since provide five projects a combined $1.5 million in investments.

The MOU signing comes just as Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde begin their state visit to Canada.