Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to announce to this House that a new parliamentary friendship group has been formed: the Canada-Lebanon Parliamentary Friendship Group.
Some 30 Canadian parliamentarians from both the House of Commons and the Senate established this group, whose purpose is to foster exchanges between Lebanese and Canadian parliamentarians, propose initiatives to promote better understanding of national and international issues and develop co-operation between our two countries.
As chairman of this friendship group, I thank my colleagues from both Houses who have agreed to join me on the executive of this group.
Let us hope that our parliamentary friendship group will help strengthen the bond between our two countries, Canada and Lebanon, which share tens of thousands of citizens and both consider themselves as full-fledged members of the French-speaking community.