International Trade committee  There is a very important reason. Non-renewable natural resources are going to end some day. Basically, some years from now, there will be no more coal to be extracted from our mine. What will happen to the population when there is no mine? What are they going to do? How can they

International Trade committee  There is a basic reason behind that: we believe that Colombians are industrious people. We work hard and we want to improve our standard of living. We know that the only way to improve it is if we have jobs, and good jobs, at that. The only way to achieve that is by integrating o

International Trade committee  Absolutely, because there is no agricultural crop as profitable as the drug trade.

International Trade committee  Yes, and in help...look, for example, at the other way also. Last year we bought $70 million in imports from Canadian companies. I think that's an important amount. The kinds of things that we import from Canada, besides trucks and mining equipment, are also on the environment

International Trade committee  Absolutely. The problem with the displacement of people is that the warlords who control a territory have the monopoly on drug trade, so there is a fight to control a territory. In that sense, Professor Giddens said in a famous article that a frontier territory is a territory w

International Trade committee  It is about the future. I want to mention some important data. Before Mr. Uribe, the length of the tenure of the education ministers was less than a year, so no educational policies could ever be carried out because of the turnover of the ministers. With Mr. Uribe, the current

International Trade committee  Yes. One of the things we have been doing, and the Canadian embassy has been instrumental in it, is getting together mining companies and other companies so that we can enforce voluntary principles and move from a philanthropic approach to social responsibility through sustainabl

International Trade committee  If we look at trade statistics, we see that trade between Canada and Colombia has been growing, and there we have a problem with Colombian statistics. Some 20 years ago, I was the Chief Statistician of Colombia, and the problem is that Colombian statistics underestimate the flo

International Trade committee  Absolutely. We know very well that on August 7, Mr. Uribe's regime is going to end. We're going to elect a new president in a couple of weeks, and most probably the successor of Mr. Uribe is not going to be a sharer of these types of policies. We know that we have an independent

International Trade committee  I believe that Canada is different from the other countries with which Colombia has entered into free trade agreements. The presence of Canadian businesses will improve matters. In the same way as we work, as Colombians and Canadians, we can improve the way in which companies wor

International Trade committee  It's us, workers—

International Trade committee  I believe the purpose of that kind of study would be to frustrate the free trade agreement. I don't deny the fact that we have a human rights problem. The question that arises is to determine how to change the situation, how to improve the situation of the unions and unionists. T

International Trade committee  Could you speak slowly?

International Trade committee  Thank you very much.

International Trade committee  Yes, I'm sure of it. However, we have to work every day to change the attitudes and behaviour of people and public officers. If we don't work to change the situation, nothing will happen in the next few years.