I was particularly interested when you mentioned some of the capabilities of Bosnia and Herzegovina has with regard to its contributions to demining. I note that Canada actually has helped, by contributing some $11 million to the United Nations Development Programme's mine action centres. And there's training as well; I see there are some 40 mine detection dogs for deployment and demining internationally.
I thank you for that intervention, as far as what can be provided is concerned, because, as we've noted in this committee, specifically, European nations have cut back significantly in their contributions to NATO. Therefore, the tremendous financial burden is placed on some countries like Canada. It's very difficult to convince the people who pay taxes that you need to increase an organization, and at the same time you need to be able to convince Canadians that this additional contribution is going to be a plus or a benefit rather than a negative. That's why I asked specifically what you can bring to the table.
Mr. McKay began to head towards the relationship between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Russia. I noted that in your introduction you mentioned that you wanted to explore more fully your relationship with Russia. Am I correct in assuming that the game of chess you're playing is making sure that NATO is here, as well as keeping Russia on the friendly side? Would that be a correct observation?