Foreign Affairs committee  I think that in a country like South Sudan, where they have a myriad of.... They have tremendous mineral resources—not just oil—but if you start training programs where the people have the opportunity, just as we do in the western world, where we have the opportunity.... There's a company in Canada called EllisDon, which I think we all know about, and EllisDon has probably created and fostered more construction companies than any school or university.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm not sure I can give you specific examples. One of the things that bothers me in South Sudan is the operators of the oil fields, who, in my opinion, will take the money and take the oil with very little benefit to the people of South Sudan. There are large tracts of land, I believe in the north, being leased to companies out of China that will simply take the product to China.

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, if you're talking about the private sector, I think it's the opportunity to make returns, to make a profit. I think that's number one. I'm not a tax expert and I'm not an international money expert, but I think if you can give incentives for specific areas, for specific areas for training and for specific areas that allow the indigenous people to take over....

Foreign Affairs committee  As an entrepreneur myself, if I were a lot younger.... It's like an entrepreneurial sandbox in that there are opportunities in almost all of the sectors. I think the biggest opportunity for Canadians is in the agricultural area. I'd love to be able to promote to Canadian farmers the opportunities in South Sudan.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. As a matter of fact, I carry a request from the Minister of Agriculture for the Republic of South Sudan. I met with her before I left in January. She asked if we could sponsor even one student to come to Canada, to someplace like Ridgetown college or the University of Guelph, to study agriculture and to study our methods.

Foreign Affairs committee  The quick answer is that Egypt believes it will, but I'm not sure about any of the countries that are tributary to the Nile. The Nile does not start in Egypt; it ends in Egypt. So it could be a problem, but the reality is that in our area, we have a climate such that we do not at this point in time require irrigation.

Foreign Affairs committee  It was a project around a product that was indigenous to South Sudan, called gum arabic. It's a hydrochloride and it's harvested similar to the way you harvest maple syrup; that's the closest I can get to it. It has wide-ranging, myriad uses in industry. It grows in a very narrow band across north Africa.

Foreign Affairs committee  I have two of my volunteers here today. Jeff Lang is our chairman, and the young blond guy across there is now known as the “Birdman of Jebel Lado”. We had a problem with bird infestation over there. We like to think we're creative in solving the problems. He went over there and captured some hawks.

Foreign Affairs committee  No, I'm not.

Foreign Affairs committee  It would include Somalia, Eritrea, many of the sub-Saharan countries, and Ethiopia. If I may say as well, Mr. Van Kesteren, one thing that's happening in some of these countries that bothers me—I'm European, so I can perhaps say this—is I think the European influence, where they're against hybrid seeds.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it's something governments should encourage. Obviously, security is a big issue. I've never believed in martyrdom. Security is a big issue for us. We have been very fortunate. We're in an area where we've had one tribal outbreak. There are a lot of things happening, with the north agitating the tribes in the south, so it is a difficult country to work in.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it very definitely is. We have several Sudanese people who we are training in Sudan. It takes time, but they are starting to learn management principles. It's the application of these management principles that will allow them, as we did in our country years and years ago, to go down the road of entrepreneurialism and hopefully establish their own farm.

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, it's very simple, Mr. Schellenberger. Thank you for the question. It is funded by generous Canadians. We raise money. My own company and my family have taken on CEDASS as their charity of choice, and we raise money. It's not easy, because in this world and this economy, there are a lot of calls on charitable dollars.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think the next level we would like to see is one where we increase the acreage and develop a training program. I was interested in Mr. Baker's comments and the question from the MP with respect to what happens in developing nations and the private sector. The reality is that if we can train indigenous people so that they can eventually take over these businesses, that has to be....

Foreign Affairs committee  Because of our relationship with the World Food Programme—and we have an extremely good relationship and work very closely with the World Food Programme—when we harvest, they are there within several days to take the produce into Juba, which, as you may know, is the capital city of South Sudan.