Chair, we have not had a negotiating round with the Mercosur countries now since—I'll just double-check the date—almost one year ago. This is largely due to the pandemic, which did not allow us to host a negotiating round this fall as we had originally hoped to be able to do.
In the meantime, though, we are engaging virtually with our Mercosur counterparts across a number of different areas. At the same time, we are also aware of the concerns that have been raised with respect to some of the environmental protection issues, in Brazil in particular. We have really made a point in all of our international trade agreements to ensure that trade and environmental issues are very prominent.
We're certainly committed, in the context of a possible Canada-Mercosur agreement, to ensuring that trade liberalization and environmental protection are mutually supportive. From that standpoint, we have been pursuing in the negotiations a very robust and comprehensive environment chapter. This includes core environmental provisions focused on maintaining high levels of environmental protection and ensuring robust environmental governance, as well as a range of provisions to address global environmental issues, including commitments to promote sustainable forest management and combat illegal logging and related trade.