Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, Ambassador.
Thank you for being here with us. I would like to join with my colleagues in conveying our message of solidarity and our hopes for a lasting peace at the earliest possible time.
Essentially, this agreement has relatively little impact on trade, but it is an affirmation of friendship. As we know, most goods and services were already traded freely under the World Trade Organization, or WTO, agreements and the earlier agreement between Canada and Ukraine. The fact remains that trade is still rather limited.
I would like to discuss a few things with you that are relatively interesting. You said you are not an expert in free trade; no problem. If there is a question you are not able to answer, the embassy can provide more details to the committee. Please do not hesitate to do that, if necessary.
The 2023 Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement that we are discussing moves guaranteed access to the Ukrainian market up a year, and the tariff quota will rise to 20,000 metric tonnes of pork. Pork production is important in Quebec.
Can you tell us a bit about Ukraine's need for this product?