Mr. Speaker, last spring the Prime Minister and the Central American presidents were able to launch a new set of relationships between our two regions, which are 30 million people each.
Last week we were able to put real, concrete expression to those initiatives by starting negotiations on new sets of air links between Central America and Canada, signing a series of agreements on protection of foreign investment that will give Canadian investors a new incentive to develop in that area and a new series of trade promotions and marketing proposals.
Those economic ties now carry over into a much closer political relationship where we now work with them. Central American governments now agree to a total ban of land mines, which is a high priority for Canadians. They are working very closely with us on matters of human reform.
We can clearly see in a very short period of time that they have been able to launch a brand new generation of relationships in a very important part of the world.