Foreign Affairs committee  I think Canadian companies are desirable in African countries. Canadian companies have a reputation that is known in those countries, and I think African countries welcome Canadian investment. That is one of our strengths and opportunities. I have quite a stunning statistic about China.

Foreign Affairs committee  My colleague was just mentioning that we have a range of tools that we use in order to help Canadian businesses go in. We have our trade commissioner service, which provides information. There is a role for government in talking to the Canadian private sector about what the risks of going in are and what the opportunities are.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't have that statistic on hand, but we can try to find that and provide that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Very briefly, we have a diplomatic presence in the capital, as well as in Lagos. Lagos is more focused on commercial...in the capital, it's more diplomatic and relationship.... We also work with Nigeria in the context of dealing with regional situations and eco loss, but I'll turn to my colleague to add to that.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think the most important thing when we're considering how Canada can have the greatest impact and achieve its interests is to do the analysis that is currently being undertaken, which is to examine Canadian strengths and then intersect that with Canadian interests and see where that leads us.

Foreign Affairs committee  think it's through strategic partnerships. Maybe I'll turn to my colleague to talk about the Sahel, because I think that's a good example of where we can turn our focus to countries that would give us the most leverage in the region.

Foreign Affairs committee  I will send information to you in writing that will give you the breakdown, but we have some stats here.

Foreign Affairs committee  I can't speculate about what they would be. At the moment, the Government of Canada has a commitment to have 50% of its bilateral international assistance directed to sub-Saharan African. It has been increasing. In the past four years, there's been a 54% increase in the amount of development spending in sub-Saharan Africa by the Government of Canada.

Foreign Affairs committee  You can look at the statistics. The statistics are actually quite shocking when you look at women's health. Maternal mortality rates are sky-high. We know that the average birth rate in some countries in Africa is six: I just came back from Benin and Côte D'Ivoire, and the average woman had six children.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think this is one of the most important people-to-people ties and cultural ties we have with the continent. I mentioned that we are a member of la Francophonie, but we also have very important relationships.... Part of that is because of our linguistic connections. I will use an example.

Foreign Affairs committee  I would start by saying that our partnerships with Canadian civil society organizations are extremely valuable and absolutely important as part of our tool kit, and we really value them. However, they are not the only way in which it makes sense to do development in some of these contexts.

Foreign Affairs committee  There are many things, but I would say that one of the things that has been very challenging for African countries is having a colonial past. There are a number of implications presently that are a result of having been formerly colonized. It had a deep effect on their economy. For example, many of those countries, once they gained independence, ended up exporting raw material but were not in the business of production themselves, and they were not doing manufacturing, which was very limiting on their economy.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll answer with a few examples. I think we have some examples of excellent projects that we have under way to help African countries take leadership in climate change. Some of those we do through the partnerships with the African Development Bank. We have an African Development Bank Africa fertilizer financing mechanism, which we recently announced, and the African Development Bank disaster risk multi-donor trust fund.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll start with a general statement. There is a utility to having multiple tools and multiple channels, because they each serve a unique role. Did you want to continue, Susan?

Foreign Affairs committee  Maybe I'll elaborate a little bit on what the activities of Russia and China are on the continent and the ways in which those intersect with the activities we undertake. We know that Russia has developing relationships with countries in Africa. There was a Russia-Africa summit, and a number of leaders attended that.