Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I want to thank each of our witnesses for joining us today. As Canadians, sometimes I think it's difficult for us to imagine what Colombia has been through over the last 40 years, with a civil war that began along ideological grounds and has become more of a drug war, in fact. It is clearly in the interests of the people of Colombia, in fact, in the interests of the people of Canada, for all of us, and for the stability of the Andean region to provide real economic opportunities to the people of Colombia to wean them off the sources of that conflict, the drug war.
I also want to thank Ambassador Lavertu for being here. We have a very strong and professional Canadian public service, and he is a reminder that even after they retire, they can continue to contribute significantly and positively to Canadian public policy and decision-making in Parliament.
I have a series of questions for Mr. Plata on the bilateral agreement between the Colombian government and the Canadian government on human rights reported to our respective parliaments. What do you see as the purpose of the new bilateral agreement between Canada and Colombia that establishes a human rights reportage mechanism?