Thank you, Chair.
I'd like to thank our guests for being here this afternoon and sharing their insights on how they work in Canada and with India, as we study this pending CEPA arrangement.
I guess I take some comfort in knowing that in any free trade deals Canada has put in place, we've always put in pretty detailed labour and environmental agreements as part of them. It gives me some confidence as we go forward on those kinds of issues that you made reference to, Mr. Sood. I think some pride in how India is improving its own standing will go a long way.
The case for India is pretty clear, and I say this based on the obvious facts. You're looking at the second-largest population in the world and one that's predicted to be the largest in the next decade or so, and the tenth largest economy in the world. India has undertaken major economic reforms and is part of the WTO, so a lot of things are happening. What surprises me is the fact that we haven't done that much more in terms of trade given the growth that could have been.
It's interesting, Mr. Sood—and I'll ask you for a brief comment on this—that you said we should sign a CEPA as soon as possible and negotiate on an incremental basis. That's not the history of Canada's trade deals. We're completing one with Europe right now, and it's fairly clear, as we're now into what I call the crunchy bits—the tougher part—that some of these are emotional issues and some are maybe not even large economically, but they are things that certainly matter in various aspects of the agreement. But if you don't do these now while you're signing an agreement and trying to get all the big pieces done, I would suggest to you that they'll never be done. I think the example is with Korea, where there's a partial agreement, not a completely full agreement.
I'm just wondering if you could comment briefly on that, as far as why you seem very committed to just getting any deal done. Tell me that's not just for the sake of doing a deal.