Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome to our witnesses.
I want to start by keeping most of my remarks based to Panama and to Jordan, with respect to Mr. Macartney.
I would like to say to my colleagues across the way that when we get a chance to travel as a committee you'll get to meet our trade officials on the ground in various countries around the world and you'll really be able to better understand their understanding of the countries they are in, and the great work they do on behalf of the Government of Canada.
I did get to cut a ribbon in India, but I only got to cut that ribbon because of all the background work that the international trade people and our officials had done on our behalf.
With that segue, I'll go back to Panama primarily. It's part of our Americas strategy. It is not only a transit country for much of the Americas, but it's also a transit country for 5% of the global trade that is traded around the world. So the future of Panama should be terrifically positive and strong. The fact that they're managing to keep a GDP at 7.5% in these tough economic times I think is even more incentive for us to get this free trade agreement to the House and through the House.
Mr. Reeder, my question for you is on the future of Panama. When do we expect to see the final twinning of the Panama Canal, which is a huge project, and how much will that further advance their ability to carry a huge proportion of the world trade?