Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First of all, I extend a warm welcome to all of you.
To our guests from Colombia, thank you for coming before our committee.
I just wanted to say off the bat to Mr. Ferro, who spoke to us from Colombia, that I really enjoyed his statement that Colombia, like other countries, has its problems. If any one of us thinks that other countries don't have problems, then I don't know what planet we're living on.
I was moved when he talked about domestic violence in terms of women and children and what needs to be done there. I'll address that in one minute.
If I understood you correctly, Mr. Ferro—I'm just trying to save time here and I want your response for the record—you believe that this trade deal will help address some of the issues that are there today and that will be there tomorrow and the next day, but if we don't move forward on this free trade deal, all we're doing is prolonging the addressing of some of these issues.
Am I correct, sir, in saying that?