Thank you.

I'll try to keep my comments brief and non-repetitive, because some of what I was going to say has been echoed by previous folks on the earlier panel.

However, just for a quick background.... The Canada-ASEAN Business Council was established in 2012 to be the leading voice for the Canadian private sector in ASEAN. We now represent over 80 members across quite a wide variety of sectors, predominantly Canadian medium to large corporations. Our contact base—and the people who receive our media, our updates and our knowledge papers and who attend our events—has increased to about 10,000 on our social media. It's quite a big difference from when we first started.

The mission for the CABC is obviously to increase trade and investment between Canada and ASEAN for mutual prosperity and growth. The CABC is also Canada's first and only ASEAN-accredited entity, which happened this past January. There are only three private sector bodies similarly accredited by ASEAN. One is the EU-ASEAN Business Council and another is the US-ASEAN Business Council. That did require unanimity amongst the 10 ASEAN member states and the secretariat—to agree on accrediting us. Sometimes ASEAN can agree on things, as it were.

Obviously, ASEAN is made up of 10 members states that are home to about 660 million people, making it the world's third-largest population. I might add that about 50% of that 660 million is under the age of 30, which is astounding if we think about it.

Economically, ASEAN is the fifth-largest economic partner of Canada globally. Canada is the fourth-largest trading partner to ASEAN. Bilateral trade increased about 20% last year, and even in the proceeding years, during COVID, we had tremendous growth, which is impressive given the supply chain disruptions and challenges that were occurring globally. I think that reflects a shift of labour and manufacturing from China towards Southeast Asia, which started before COVID and has been accelerated by COVID, particularly to countries like Vietnam. You're also seeing some of this return to Indonesia, the Philippines and elsewhere. Certainly, the nexus for international business in the region has shifted to Singapore as the international trade hub for the region.

Recognizing these substantial economic prospects that ASEAN has, we've been long advocating for a Canada-ASEAN FTA, which was launched in 2021 and hopefully will be concluded around 2025-26, and for a bilateral discussion with Indonesia, which is expected to conclude in 2025.

I would just like to comment that Canada's being engaged in this ASEAN FTA discussion is a remarkable achievement. ASEAN has everyone at the door asking for a trade agreement, and we were selected over the likes of the EU and the U.K. Even the United States does not have an agreement with ASEAN. I think that's a very positive sign with regard to their interest in Canada and growing our relationship.

Canada was upgraded to the ASEAN-Canada Strategic Partnership in 2023, the last of the dialogue partners of ASEAN to be thus accredited, which was noted earlier. Obviously, CABC was provided ASEAN accreditation as a private sector entity in January, as I mentioned.

During our official accreditation, the ASEAN secretary-general mentioned that that's a result of a high level of trust built over many years—over a decade, in fact, for the CABC—and this thrust into ASEAN, which, again, has similarly been accelerated by the Indo-Pacific strategy. While the ASEAN-Canada Strategic Partnership—and perhaps our accreditation as an organization, the CABC—is symbolic, it is certainly a testament to the foundation for the Canada-ASEAN relationship and provides an opportunity for us, at both the government level and the private sector level, to engage much more deeply and across a wider range of subjects with ASEAN and its member states.

There are a few key areas on policy and in business where interests align: food security; energy transition and sustainability; overall investment, particularly into infrastructure; and the digital economy, where interests, I believe, overlap and where business thrusts, resources and things to offer overlap as well.

The CABC fully supports Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy, which places ASEAN right in the heart of that. It's not only an economic necessity but also, I think, a strategic imperative for regional geopolitical stability and long-term peace and prosperity that Canada partner with like-minded small powers that believe in rules-based trade and keeping access open to the globe and to all our trading partners from around the world.

Obviously, ASEAN centrality has come up, and that unanimity required on decision-making doesn't make it the fastest body to move, but a dialogue is a fundamental part of the ASEAN engagement with its neighbours and the world. I think that's something that Canada should wholeheartedly support.

Economically, ASEAN is driving other dialogues, including RCEP, which is the world's largest free trade agreement. Access to that does require having an agreement with ASEAN preceding that. That's another incentive for why we should be pursuing and concluding our agreement with ASEAN—