I'd like to go to the middle question: what is holding us back?
We have seen examples of significant resource investment in extraction. We've seen places where the results of this investment have not been shared across the population base, where there are examples of corruption, and where we haven't seen the development we thought this investment would bring. Canada, for example, and many other countries have benefited enormously from mineral wealth.
Over the last number of years, largely through ICMM, the International Council on Mining and Metals, we have been looking closely at this issue, the so-called “resource curse”. We have tried to identify ways in which we can ensure that this does not happen. It's by no means certain that the resource curse is going to happen. It's not certain that investing in Africa in a mining project is going to make the country worse off. It can make it better off. You gave the example of Botswana. There are other examples in Africa too.
The question then becomes: how do you do development right? How do you do it in a way that ensures the likelihood of lasting economic benefits? That's where I see these CIDA partnerships as pointing a way forward. Companies work with others who know international development and the benefits of aid better than the mining industry does. By partnering with them, you enable more creative approaches to ensuring that the value and jobs associated with the extractive industries flow more broadly to the communities in and around the mine and beyond.
I think that the issue of transparency of payments is part of that. It's part of the answer when citizens have a better understanding of where the money flows. A lack of knowledge of how to do this right has held us back in the past. We've been doing a lot of work around the world to learn where mining investments have generated the kind of lasting development we'd like to see. We have looked at what we can take from that. I think that's part of the answer.