Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. To begin with, Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you for the warm welcome I and my entire delegation have received since arriving in Canada. I particularly appreciate this opportunity to appear before your distinguished Committee. I will make a very brief opening statement to allow you time to ask questions and make comments.

Foreign Affairs committee  Should I answer immediately? All right. I would like to thank you for your question, and especially for the longstanding friendship you have shown to Burkina Faso. As I said, private Canadian companies are very dynamic in Burkina Faso. We also recognize that in recent years, continental China has made an important breakthrough economically.

Foreign Affairs committee  In fact, CIDA people are not the ones who informed us. I believe it was the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade that decided, for a variety of reasons, to reduce the number of focus countries from 25 to 20, as I recall. In terms of the current list of focus countries, I believe there are seven African countries on the list.

Foreign Affairs committee  Although I said “psychologically speaking”, the same obviously applies at the diplomatic and political levels as well. When you are friends with another country and your trade is increasing… I understand Canada's sensitivity to issues such as governance, gender equality and mothers and children, but we believe we have made some progress in those areas.

Foreign Affairs committee  I said at the beginning that we need the assistance of developed countries. As you know, OECD developed countries pledged to devote 0.7% of their gross domestic product to official development assistance. Thus far, very few countries have achieved that goal. Furthermore, the international community set a number of millennium development goals.

Foreign Affairs committee  Exactly.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, please excuse me. I just want to say that, when I met with Minister Cannon in Addis-Ababa a few days ago, he assured me that there is no particular problem in terms of maintaining your embassy in Ouagadougou.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Parliamentary Secretary. I stated, right at the outset, when the first question was put to me, that, in actual fact, we are not talking about a reduction in CIDA's activities. When the first question was put to me by the member, I stated that, on the contrary, in some priority areas such as education, there had even been a significant increase in assistance from Canada.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Ms. Mathyssen. Obviously, I cannot… It goes without saying that our vote is not for sale. However, we do have friendly relations, strong relations that go back to the days following our independence. We wrote to the Canadian government to say—and I believe I can make this comment here without it being public—that we would support Canada's candidacy for a seat on the Security Council, as a non-permanent member.

Foreign Affairs committee  Ah!… You should have told me that.

Foreign Affairs committee  First of all, at the political level, the government introduced legislation which was passed by the National Assembly and which requires that a minimum number of seats be reserved for women in each political party. Secondly, the government has established various funding structures—they are seven in all—which enable women to be engaged in remunerative activities.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Goldring, I am a little uncomfortable answering that question. First of all, I would not like to see the Canadian private sector dismiss the Burkinan mining industry. On the contrary, I would like to see a stronger Canadian presence there because, as I said at the outset, we have excellent relations with your private companies, which abide by Burkina Faso's laws and regulations.

Foreign Affairs committee  This is a question from someone with extensive experience both in Africa and on the political scene. In terms of what is causing instability in the sub-region, the factors in play vary from one country to the other. Togo, for example, was led by a single party for 30 or more years.