I would repeat some of the comments I made in response to an earlier question. What Global Affairs can do, and tries to do, we do. Our resources in that region, both on the ground and our capacities here at headquarters, are relatively modest. As you're probably aware, for the five countries we only have one relatively small embassy up in Astana, which is accredited to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Uzbekistan is covered out of where I used to work, out of our embassy in Moscow, and Turkmenistan is covered out of our embassy in Ankara.
More often than not, more is better than less, but resources are finite. Nevertheless, we have dedicated trade commissioners who are actively working to identify opportunities and engage with Canadian business. At the end of the day, it's difficult for these efforts to be realized. Whatever emerging trends might be coming down the pike, whatever the desirability of being in on the ground floor for promising opportunities a little down the way, if indeed that is the case in Uzbekistan, I would still contend that the default perception, with a few exceptions, of Canadian business people writ large is that this region is far away, complicated, and potentially corrupt. The region is just not front of mind. That does not mean there are not opportunities, that there are not Canadian firms that are trading, though to a much lesser degree, with the likes of Turkmenistan and even Uzbekistan, where the challenges have been huge. Going forward, though, I wouldn't be particularly optimistic.