Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses here and online for joining us for this very important study.
I'd like to make a comment before I start my questions. I think one of the witnesses said earlier that we've had a sort of slowdown in the negotiation of FTAs. I would respectfully beg to differ. In the last seven years, Canada has actually concluded agreements on CETA, CPTPP and CUSMA. We remain the only member of the G7 that has a free trading relationship with every other member of the G7. As one of the later witnesses pointed out, we're actively pursuing agreements with ASEAN, India and Indonesia, and also the U.K.
For my first question, I'd like to turn to the folks from Pulse Canada.
Mr. Ross, you pointed out the prevalence, unfortunately, notwithstanding our being the world's largest pulse exporter to over a hundred countries around the planet, of the issue of sanitary and phytosanitary standards continuing to rear its ugly head, sometimes in less than ideal or less than good-faith ways. You touched on this fact. You know that the Indo-Pacific strategy we launched last fall includes an agricultural office in situ or on site in the region. It's funded to the tune of almost $32 million.
Can you tell the committee what that kind of office represents in terms of an opportunity to be there on the ground and to ideally ward off issues before they arise, but secondly to deal with issues once they come up? How does that affect your work?