Thank you.
Thank you to the ministers and to the general for being here today.
I want to come back to Minister Cannon and ask the question that Mr. Rae had probed.
I respect, Minister, your comments about meeting with the foreign minister, but I just have to say if I could give an example, if it had been the ambassador of the U.S. who said he wanted to speak with you and meet with you about an important issue regarding relations--and considering we've heard from everyone on the important relationship that we have with the UAE, on the fact that they've hosted us for free--would you actually say “No, I met with Secretary of State Clinton, I don't need to meet with you”?
I find it hard to believe that you wouldn't meet with Ambassador Abdullah. This March, he will have been here two years. Do you think it's reasonable if we're going to have a really robust relationship with a country as important as UAE that you would not meet with him?
One other thing is that there are other issues that have come to my attention. They're around visas. It's about tending to our garden, I guess. I know that he was posted before in France. He could pick up the phone and talk to Minister Kouchner. He could talk to President Sarkozy. But when he comes here, for some reason, there's no one on the other end of the line. I need to understand why that treatment with someone as important as the ambassador would be satisfactory.