Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm here representing Canada's soybean industry. That includes Canadian seed developers, and that includes our farmers, our processors and our exporters. We have a very diverse industry with production that spans from Atlantic Canada all the way to the Rocky Mountains.

Soybeans are the third most valuable crop here in Canada, with exports of about $3.5 billion per year. We produce world-leading food grade soybeans to make things like tofu and soy milk, as well as commodity soybeans to make meal to feed livestock and oil for humans and for biofuel. With more than 70% of our production exported every year, we're very focused on global markets.

Before I describe why the Indo-Pacific strategy is important for us, I'd like to share why the region itself presents an opportunity.

From a soybean perspective, the Indo-Pacific is the heartbeat of global demand. Take the ASEAN region, for example, which excludes other important markets like Japan, China and Korea. ASEAN imports soybeans worth approximately $9 billion every year, and our Canadian exports into this region are at about $470 million. We see a lot of opportunity for growth. For example, the USDA sees demand for soybeans in ASEAN countries to grow by 25% now through 2028.

With the committee's focus on China, it's also important to recognize that China is the world's biggest importer of soybeans, demanding 60% of all the soybeans traded in the world. It's also a very important market for Canadian soybean producers and the industry.

The question facing us today is how the Indo-Pacific strategy can help us seize these opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. For our sector, this will happen by helping to improve access to these markets.

First, we need to eliminate tariffs and establish mechanisms through regulatory co-operation through the Canada-Indonesia free trade negotiations. Eliminating tariffs would create growth opportunities and predictability—for example, right now, Indonesia could raise their tariffs on soybeans to 27%—but eliminating tariffs is not enough. We also need to address non-tariff barriers like sanitary and phytosanitary issues. Things that can suddenly appear can create costs and can even stop trade.

Second, we need to continue engaging all countries in the region on our shared interest in stable food trade. As my colleague Michael shared, Canada is one of the few countries that can produce food for itself as well as others.

Our agri-food sector is an engine of growth. Our customers in the Indo-Pacific depend on what we produce to feed their people and their animals. What we produce comes from what we invest, and what we invest is highly influenced by predictability. It's in everyone's interest to support rules-based trade and to continue engagement that supports stable food trade.

Last, we need to make the most of the newly established Indo-Pacific agri-food office under the strategy to work proactively to prevent trade issues and also to address them quickly when they arise. We welcome the office as an important tool to prevent and resolve trade issues. The exciting part is that we're already seeing it work. We're already seeing that engagement help to bring more collaboration and co-operation between governments.

One way we're seeing this is by regulators connecting with their counterparts. They are connecting to discuss plant health issues so they can better understand how governments can regulate these things to prevent trade risks, and they are connecting to improve understanding so that small regulatory differences on how weed seeds are regulated don't create trade barriers. As we look to the future, we see the office as a really helpful tool that can help with new technologies too, like seed technologies such as gene editing.

Throughout the region, regulations are evolving, though often not in sync with what's happening here in Canada. Investing in more collaboration between Canadian and Indo-Pacific regulators can really help to minimize differences that can create trade barriers or regulations that are not based on science.

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss how Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy can help us seize growth opportunities in the Indo-Pacific region.

I look forward to your questions.

Thank you very much.