I'd like to bring this meeting to order.
This is meeting number 23 of the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan. Pursuant to the order of reference of Wednesday, March 3, 2010, we're continuing our study on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.
Today we would like to welcome as witnesses the Canadian International Development Agency, known as CIDA, with Françoise Ducros, vice-president, James Melanson, director general, and Melanie Boyd, director.
We appreciate you being able to come in at such short notice.
I just want to remind the committee that we agreed last week that the aim of this committee is to preview CIDA activity in Afghanistan after July 2011, in part to identify opportunities for other Canadian non-military expertise. It would be helpful, we felt, to review the full range of CIDA activity in Afghanistan, explore what CIDA intends to do after July 2011, and then identify gaps or niches into which other Canadian non-military expertise might be deployed.
I'm sure we may range beyond that, but for those who were unable to attend our meeting last week, this is the general direction that we would like to follow.
The usual practice is to allow for an opening statement from our witnesses. Any time you're ready, you may go ahead. Welcome again.