I'd like to stress one thing, first, if I was misunderstood. The embassies help us. They're not that well staffed, but we get full support from wherever they are. I just want to point this out.
On bilateral agreements, business in the Middle East is not easily done unless you have a good personal relationship with them. You have to visit them often and have coffee with them and eventually you'll get the business. It doesn't come in the North American way where you make and you sign the deal.
The same thing happens with the politicians. You have to establish a relationship with them, the Prime Minister with the leader of that country. Be close to him, befriend him--in order for him to lobby for, and win, Canadian business.
If you see an opportunity for a bilateral agreement, such as sectors where you can provide engineering know-how or whatever, elaborate on those, build on this relationship where you would do a technology transfer between Canada and the UAE, for example, or in the oil field or education. Choose a couple of topics where others haven't excelled.
We've been doing business there. I know some universities have opened in Qatar. Qatar has announced a major investment in education to copy Dubai in a way. Education is an area that Dubai has not touched yet.
Why don't we push something like that in bilateral agreements with Qatar to start with and expand on that eventually? Experience that first with one of those bilateral agreements, with one country or with the GCC overall. As Mr. Hutton said, we have to do it with the GCC now. We can go from there for more kinds of free trade agreements.
I don't know if I answered your question properly, but that's the way I see it. I don't see it happening in one shot. We have to first build a relationship with the government itself. Maybe we have to have the government, the Prime Minister, there for a few years to establish this relationship. Still, we need to do something. It is still the Prime Minister of Canada who represents Canada. It doesn't matter which party he represents, he still represents Canada. If he establishes a relationship, we will have it for the long-term.