Thank you for the question.
Ms. Renart will be able to speak to you in more detail about our meeting with the negotiators, but when we started negotiating, our basic principle was to have an ambitious and modern agreement that would serve as a model. We didn't just want to replicate what already existed, but to try to establish a progressive model agreement in South America that would set the tone. That is sort of what we have done in the case of the free trade agreement with Europe, the CETA, with regard to the chapters on the environment and labour law, for example. We have done the same about corporate social responsibility and the rules that will govern SMEs. In other words, we want to have an agreement in this part of the world that will incorporate the best elements that have been developed in international agreements.
The underlying objective is that everyone, both trade unions and civil society, feel that they are part of this effort to set the tone.
For example, Uruguay is a very progressive country. It was the first country in the world, along with Chile, to have a free trade agreement that included a chapter on gender equality. Canada was the second country in the world to do so, thanks to the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement. Now we want to inspire other Mercosur trading bloc countries to adopt the same practices. This would not only make it possible to have an agreement that meets the demands of civil society there, but also to set the tone.
As I said earlier to our colleague Mr. Blaikie, it was a great first to meet the unions and civil society from day one. As you can imagine, it was a great first for Paraguay that a minister from a foreign government met with the unions on the first day. It was the same thing in Argentina. It set the tone. Of course, these people talk to their national elected officials. In my opinion, the circumstances were right for this part of the world to have one of the most progressive agreements.