As you know, the honourable gentleman who is seated beside me is Canada's, or at least the Prime Minister's, sherpa. He would probably be more adequately equipped to answer the question.
But may I advance, very humbly, in his presence, that we are being very well acknowledged by our colleagues. It's under the theme of “Recovery and New Beginnings”. We'll focus on the G8 value-added areas, such as development, with a signature initiative on maternal and child health, and on international peace and security.
On the development side, it's important to note that the statistics are shocking. Each year, nearly nine million children die before they turn five, and half a million women die in pregnancy and childbirth. Many of these deaths can be prevented with improved access to health care, better nutrition, and the scaling up of proven interventions, such as immunization.
This is a key Muskoka priority. It's directly related to the United Nations millennium development goals...which experts have identified as the ones most lagging behind and having the most important ripple effect on other development challenges. As well, addressing these UN development goals has been fully endorsed by our G8 partners, the United Nations, and of course the World Health Organization.
I'd say that through these outreach activities, Canada is also benefiting from strong support from private foundations as well as from domestic and international civil society organizations, including ONE and Make Poverty History. Canada continues to be engaged in proactive outreach with key partners and is exploring ways to mobilize and leverage financial contributions to, indeed, improve maternal and child health. We're actively identifying and planning opportunities for interaction between the G8 sherpas and civil organizations in Canada.