Bear in mind that I think this Indo-Pacific strategy is a culmination of a number of years of work. I was asked to get involved from a private sector point of view. We set up the CABC about 11 years ago now. Leading up to the Indo-Pacific strategy there were a number of years of more regular engagement to address the issue that we have been in and out of the market historically, but there's been a big push in consistency over the last decade.
I think the trade negotiations, from what I understand from the trade negotiating team, are going pretty well. These things don't happen overnight. Sometimes, it's one step forward, two steps back, or two steps forward, one step back, but they are progressing.
I think the strategy of trying to knock some of the challenging issues on the head with Indonesia—which will certainly have an effect on the overall ASEAN discussion, because they are the same matters that I mentioned, and most of them are commercial, by the way—will help to accelerate that. Once that's in place, the consistency of engagement, whether it's through academic exchanges, diplomacy or defence, where we're able to support that people-to-people engagement, needs to be maintained.
If we have concerns in Southeast Asia about the state of democracy, I would say a lot of people in Southeast Asia have concerns about the state of democracy in North America these days, so that works both ways. No one's perfect.
We need to have that continuity. We've taken some good steps with the establishment of an agricultural office in Manila under Diedrah Kelly, who was an ambassador to ASEAN. She's a really incredible talent. There's also Paul Thoppil, who's now our trade liaison in Jakarta. We took a step a few years ago when we started to have an ambassador to ASEAN, which we were lacking. As you noted, Vicky Singmin is our ambassador there now and has also been a big supporter. It's really positive working with her.
We just need to keep this momentum going forward. I think the more deeply we are engaged in ASEAN with trade and on multiple levels, the more influence we will have on those things that might concern us in the region. Preaching from afar in this part of the world, with the cultures that are here, is not very effective. When you're fully engaged and a true partner, you tend to get listened to more.
I know I'm harping on about the same thing, but I think it's following through on the execution and maintaining that engagement, and it has to be a long-term strategy, as you mentioned. I think we've seen that over the last decade, and, hopefully, it will continue.