Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the witnesses also.
I have not been to Brazil yet, but hearing today's witnesses and the questions and answers, I gather that the local challenges there are similar to some of the local challenges in India. The difference I see is that I believe India can independently negotiate and sign any agreement, whereas here we have to deal with the Mercosur.
Considering the global recession and the definite continuing downturn in the U.S.A., it is very, very important for our government to diversify our markets. As you have seen with our ambitious trade agenda, we have been working very hard on this. Listening to all of my colleagues from all parties today, I again gather that we are all interested in expanding our business activities.
As Mr. Cannan mentioned, since 2004 we have shown an interest in, and have seen interest from, Brazil. But it seems that we are still in the process of figuring out whether free trade can be pursued between these two countries.
We all understand that there are all kinds of benefits from international trade, specifically because Canada is a trading nation. But the question on which I'm not yet clear is that with these six or seven years of negotiation that we have pursued, does the department have any hope that in the future we'll have some side agreements or a free trade agreement? Or are we facing the wall again and again?