Foreign Affairs committee  We can certainly do that. We have been doing it, and we intend to continue to do that when incidents arise that generate our concern. We have a regular habit of talking bilaterally, whether it's through the ambassador, whom we call in locally, or in Islamabad through our own high commissioner.

Foreign Affairs committee  The degree to which the Pakistani government is sincere in its commitment to combating the tribal chiefs in the region has recently been strenuously debated. My colleague, Mr. Nickel, had the opportunity recently to travel to the border. He could perhaps comment on the present situation there.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for those questions. I'll take them as they came. In regard to the reports of a ceasefire agreement between the Pakistani authorities and Mr. Mehsud, of course we've heard these reports. We don't have any way of confirming those independently. Our message to the Government of Pakistan is always a consistent one: that they ought to be taking appropriate actions to put a stop to the violence in their own country, particularly in the tribal and federally administrated areas, and they ought to be doing whatever they can to control the flow of Taliban across that very important border, which is, of course, of tremendous importance to Canada at this particular time.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, honourable members, mesdames et messieurs, I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to discuss the government's active role in working with the Government of Pakistan and other key international players to help Pakistan boost its security and return to democracy.

Foreign Affairs committee  Again, they are all interesting ideas, some of which have been studied or are under study and being considered. Some have some difficulties and some have potential. We are always, as I said, looking for that kind of input. I've taken some notes here. We'll be looking at that and at other things that Canada might do, hoping that we can remain in the forefront as we have.

Foreign Affairs committee  I will be frank; the situation has not improved at all. The Government of Canada is still worried about the safety of individuals, and to a large extent the protesters are in prisons in Rangoon. This situation is not at all acceptable for Canada. The approach, attitude and interactions with the democratic movement, etc. have to be changed.

Foreign Affairs committee  The challenge is to find other means of pressure. We have made a lot of efforts to organize a collective international response, in order to increase pressure on the regime in Burma. We are trying to figure out what else we can do. This is the challenge awaiting us in future. Maybe, as I didn't get to answer Mr.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't want to be put in the position of trying to explain why Chinese foreign policy is what it is, or Indian or anybody else's besides Canadian. But look again at the data. The total exports of that country, Burma, were $3.6 billion in the most recently recorded year; imports were $2 billion.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure, because it is obviously very relevant. Burma is isolated from the international community. They are behaving in a way that only a very isolated country would, and that has been the case for quite some time now. At the same time, as you're alluding, they do have some relationships for commercial and other purposes that have allowed them to sustain the regime they've had in place, which is very controlling of their own population's wishes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Exactly. If they weren't isolated at all, you wouldn't have those statistics I just gave you. That's a country that's very rich in natural resources. In the 1960s it was meant to be one of the tigers of the future. It isn't that. So it's isolated to a large extent. However, it's not isolated completely.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's true. They have not moved to the same extent that we have. We're trying to demonstrate leadership to them, in particular, as well as to others. It's one thing to be demonstrating leadership to close allies like the EU and the United States and countries that are like-minded.

Foreign Affairs committee  If one is to extract profit from investment--and that's what investment is intended for--then presumably this aspect of the new economic measures will have some effect in that area. This is something that was certainly thought through and considered, and we are as concerned about ongoing investments as you are.

Foreign Affairs committee  We certainly have some, and not all just legal approaches. We certainly have the moral suasion of the Government of Canada, which has been used over the years in an attempt to dissuade them from doing just that. But on the legal side, I know your eye has locked onto this banning of new investment, and the word “new”, and you're wondering what about “existing”.

Foreign Affairs committee  There are lots of potential steps, but it's always a decision for the political level as to what next measures one wants to take. We have found having diplomatic relations is useful for the dialogue, and we are a country that is trying to encourage a dialogue internally there. So that's an avenue that hasn't been cut off at this point because of its utility to us essentially.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. We don't have a bilateral development assistance program with Burma. That was cut off. That was one of the measures we took to express our displeasure with the way things were going some time ago. The question of how to support the democracy movement is a very delicate one, because anything you do in public or talk about in public imperils these people, who are already in danger, even more.