Evidence of meeting #30 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was agreement.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
No one here has seen it, then. Can you check with your department colleagues to see whether an analysis was done? I'd appreciate any information you could give us.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Indo-Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
I've taken note of the request.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Great. Thank you very much.
Now I'll finish what I started saying.
Did you send the Minister of Foreign Affairs an opinion regarding the agreement with Taiwan? Do you think we should sign the agreement or not? Have you, as a department representative, done that work?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Indo-Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Mr. Smith can correct me if I'm wrong, but the purpose of any tool to strengthen or open outside markets, including the Taiwanese market, is to put us on equal footing with our competitors.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Forgive me for pressing the point, but I don't have much time left at all, and this is the last round. Did you or did you not give the minister an opinion on signing the agreement?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Indo-Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
I can't share with you, here, the opinion given to the minister on that.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
All right. You can't tell us what you told the minister. I understand that is solely for the minister. However, you did tell her something.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Indo-Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
I'd just like to say that it's important to explore business opportunities for our exporters. Taiwan is an important market where we didn't have the ability to be on a level playing field. That is why my colleagues, including Mr. Smith, undertook negotiations to give us a level playing field.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
You're saying it's to have a level playing field. I commend you on your work, which I hope will soon be rewarded with the government's signing of the agreement.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ahmed Hussen
Thank you very much.
Thank you to all the witnesses for their appearance before the committee. We really appreciate it.
Colleagues, earlier today the clerk distributed two budgets for adoption by the committee. One is for the mandate of the Ambassador of Canada to the United States. That budget is $500. The second one is for the review of Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy, and that is $22,500.
Is it the will of the committee to adopt these budgets?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ahmed Hussen
I have one last thing before we adjourn.
The informal meeting between this committee and the visiting delegation from South Africa has been postponed until June. In its place, there is a request by the deputy minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Kosovo and his delegation to meet us on the day we would have met with the South African delegation, which is Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at 9.30 a.m.
It's an informal meeting. We had already agreed to block that slot for the South African delegation. I'm asking to replace that with the Kosovo delegation and to give the clerk authorization for a small hospitality expense for that meeting. Do I have approval from the committee for that?
Liberal