Foreign Affairs committee  I would agree. I don't think we should abandon bilateral assistance. I think we do need to look at the one-third/two-thirds split and also look carefully at our regional contributions. Those could involve Canada going on alone or Canada going through multilateral institutions. That's one thing.

Foreign Affairs committee  I could just add that I also am not aware of any study that has advocated countries of focus as the sole criterion. Most studies I've seen say that one should focus one's efforts, and that scattering resources is problematic, but that focusing on a particular country is not sufficient, and there are many other criteria and measures that need to be taken.

Foreign Affairs committee  I would agree with Philip. I'd also go back to a comment John made, which is that if we are going to be in a country, we should be looking at being one of the top two or three donors in order to be making an impact, but I think it is dangerous to start a priori with a number and then try to retrofit our assistance that way.

Foreign Affairs committee  Hello, Mr. Chair. Members of the committee and colleagues, thank you for the opportunity to be here today and to take part in this important discussion. My name is Eva Busza and I am the vice-president of research and programs at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. The foundation was established by an act of Parliament in 1984 to help Canadians engage with Asia.