From our perspective, I just want to stress that EDC will look at the specifics of a transaction that is brought to our consideration. The level of economic activity taking place in Russia goes far beyond the immediate Canadian level of business activity. We would look at the specific transaction, do an assessment, including extensive due diligence, and if there were elements of corruption associated with it, we would not support the transaction.
The greatest barrier, I think, might be the lack of knowledge of how to do business in Russia and how to target companies in Russia to meet the international requirements in this area. For example, as I've mentioned, companies that are internationalized, that are dependent on foreign sources of financing—EBRD financing, commercial bank financing—stand a good chance of having to meet, a priori, these international standards.
I think that would be a good point to understand: some companies in Russia meet these international standards, because they have to if they want to be part of the global players. That doesn't mean there aren't others that also exist elsewhere, but if you tried to segment sectors and tried to target companies, you would find some companies that are, I would say, respectful of international standards in the field of ethics and corporate and social responsibility.