International Trade committee  It was very interesting to listen to Mr. Easter, anyway.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much.

International Trade committee  No, because this is an internal negotiation—if I understand you correctly—among the members of the alliance. Once it's finished, it's finished. Canada is just an observer. If Canada wants to get into the other category at the level of a full member, it will start negotiations. Th

International Trade committee  It's very difficult for me to say. Once the technical negotiations are finished by the end of this month, we will have the situation of what was achieved. As you are an observer member, I think you will have all that time to appreciate how you can get into those conditions. Proba

International Trade committee  Agriculture is exactly one of the areas where we have a deficit, if you like. In terms of what we export from Chile—fruit, for instance, for which Canada is a good customer as well—it's only 14%. We have had a variation in our exports of fruits, but with salmon.... Well, salmon

International Trade committee  I think we would be, as we have been since the beginning, in favour of Canada's increasing its participation in the Pacific Alliance, provided that you engage in the commitments that we have already, or that we will get in the next years. I think this is a very serious project, a

International Trade committee  Yes. First, in my view it's going to be good for the alliance to have a partner like Canada, with the credentials of Canada in the world, and to have Canada on our side. Of course, it's going to strengthen the relationship with countries that are like-minded countries. If you co

International Trade committee  I think that yes, it will give us the opportunity, but I think we have to settle ourselves beforehand. Most of the countries that you mentioned, Mr. Holder, are really there as observers, such as Japan and Australia. They are very interested in following the negotiations. They ar

International Trade committee  —provided that you fulfill the conditions. That's important.

International Trade committee  Yes, I think this is a question. I can repeat that we would very much like to have Canada at the table. I think it's going to be important, but it's up to you to decide.

International Trade committee  That's a very difficult question for an ambassador.

International Trade committee  There is probably a business culture in South America to deal more with the Americans. The Americans have always been much more present in South America. That's the reason we very much appreciate the policy regarding Latin America. We see that something is moving in Canada rega

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Yes, you have observer status. Do you know that as observers you are going to be invited to the ministerial meetings and to the summits? You have this intermediate as a candidate observer. If you want to go along with this, you will have more participation. You can follow the n

International Trade committee  I think we felt there was the interest from Canada in this initiative. This initiative, as you mentioned, started in 2011. It was an initiative by the President of Peru and it evolved very fast. Of course, the dynamic has been that many countries are interested in their developme