Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 139th meeting of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Today we have the pleasure and honour of hosting Mr. Rihards Kols, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Latvian Parliament, joined by the Ambassador of Latvia, His Excellency Karlis Eihenbaums.
Gentlemen, thank you for appearing today to highlight the strong ties between our two countries as friends, partners and allies, as well as our mutual commitment to both NATO and the multilateral order. Canada was one of the first G7 countries to recognize the restoration of Latvia's independence in 1991 and one of the first to ratify Latvia's ascension to NATO.
We currently have over 600 Canadian Forces members stationed in Latvia to lead a NATO battle group. We have heard only good things about the warm welcome the Latvian people have given our men and women in uniform, even in the face of misinformation meant to sow division.
I also will point out that we had the previous chair of the Latvian foreign affairs committee testify before us back in 2016.
With that, Mr. Kols, I believe you're prepared to make an opening statement, and then we will open up the floor to members to engage you in some very interesting questions. With that, the floor is yours, sir.