Thank you very much for your warm welcome; I thought of you often.
You said that Minister Oda's decision to no longer treat a number of African countries as favoured bilateral partners would not really have any consequences, because you are going to continue to help them. I have worked with documents prepared by the Canadian Council on Africa, and I read that Rwanda was one of the countries that, in 2008, had received the most funding. It says $291 million here. Does that mean that from one day to the next the country can no longer count on this funding? When you say you're going to continue to help the others, at what level will that be?
I am starting with that question, because the one that concerns me the most is governance, which we talk about all the time. How are we going to help these countries—and I say help them not replace them—develop their economies? I am not talking about assistance in the form of tents, etc., but helping them to develop.
I will conclude on this: The Senate report outlines a terrible finding: development in Africa is a failure. I don't share their approach, but I would like to hear your views on that. What is important is for Canada to contribute to development in Africa. You have worked with the Netherlands, which have a good reputation. Bravo! But is each country going to independently propose approaches, or other pieces of legislation? What are we doing to help Africa develop itself?