Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the question. What I can tell you is that the funding included within these estimates of $12.7 million has been used so far to establish an embassy in Armenia; to convert offices in Estonia, Lithuania and Slovakia; and to bolster our presence in Latvia. At present, I am not aware of any plans to increase the presence in the area you've cited.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm sorry, but I don't have that information with me, so we will have to get back to you with that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Actually, the number is $4.6 billion since 2016.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's correct.

Foreign Affairs committee  If we're looking at the total amount that's been committed, $4.7 billion, that's our whole-of-government strategy. The number I'm referring to in these main estimates is just for the Department of Global Affairs. That's why, if you look at it just by dividing the number against the number of years, it won't match up to the amounts that we have in our current estimates.

Foreign Affairs committee  I have the overall funding profile in front of me. Last fiscal year, in terms of our grants and contributions, we did disburse $78.8 million, whereas for this fiscal year we have a total of $46.1 million.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, certainly. I may ask my colleague Peter if he can speak on some of the specific results around humanitarian assistance. What I can say is that we have achieved some real, concrete results since the beginning of this strategy in 2016. Canada has been consistently among the top six official development assistance donors in each of the four countries in the Middle East under the strategy, those being Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Foreign Affairs committee  This strategy was put in place in 2016, and obviously the context has evolved since then. I think the priorities by which we've actually been disbursing the funding have also evolved. At the beginning of the strategy, an immediate threat by Da'esh was really why the strategy was put in place.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the question. Global Affairs Canada is trying to instill a culture of reallocation. This is something that was highlighted within our transformation implementation plan. One of the ongoing initiatives right now is what we're calling a red tape reduction.

Foreign Affairs committee  Foreign service directives are actually governed under the National Joint Council. Negotiations on reviewing those foreign service directives are normally done on a cyclical basis. It's called a cyclical review. In the context of the transformation implementation plan, one of the things that are highlighted is to take a look at the foreign service directive.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the question. I'll hand it to my colleague Amanda in just one moment. I'll start by saying that budget 2023 did announce a total of $2.26 billion in funding for the region. This is a whole-of-government strategy, as you're likely aware, that includes 16 government agencies.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the opportunity to be here to discuss Global Affairs Canada's supplementary estimates (B). To begin, I would like to acknowledge that I am speaking from the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to be present in this territory.

Foreign Affairs committee  Finally, there is $25 million to replenish the crisis pool quick release mechanism to address various international human crises. The funding requested through these supplementary estimates will support Canada's role in addressing major global issues and will contribute to enhancing political and economic co-operation and engagement, particularly in eastern Europe and the Indo-Pacific regions, while also reinforcing Canada's leadership.