1994: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Canada welcomes President Kuchma (12/25/94)

1994: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Canada welcomes President Kuchma

Leonid Danylovych Kuchma's state visit to Canada, the first by a Ukrainian president, highlighted the 1994 calendar year.

President Kuchma, his wife, Liudmyla, and a delegation of 63 spent five days in Canada in late October; it was his first official trip outside Ukraine since his electoral victory in July.

The 56-year-old president was greeted on October 23 by Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn, a Ukrainian Canadian. A state banquet was held for Ukraine's first couple later that evening at Mr. Hnatyshyn's official residence, Rideau Hall.

The next day, President Kuchma met with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, and the two signed a Friendship and Cooperation Agreement. At a joint news conference, Mr. Chrétien said he hoped that after Canada helps Ukraine's economy to grow, Ukrainians "will buy more goods and services from us."

President Kuchma also met privately with Speaker of the Senate Romeo LeBlanc, who will become Canada's next governor general in February, succeeding Mr. Hnatyshyn.

In a separate signing ceremony between Ukraine's Foreign Minister Gennadiy Udovenko and Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister André Ouellet, the Canadian government allocated a further $23.8 million in technical assistance to Ukraine in the areas of private sector and policy development, security and nuclear safety, nuclear fuel management and land registration and management.

Mr. Ouellet also unveiled another $13.5 million ($10 million U.S.) in direct balance of payments assistance to Ukraine; $20 million was also added to Ukraine's line of credit.

Other Canadian-Ukrainian accords signed that day included: a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding on the Canadian Cooperation Program, an Economic Cooperation Agreement, a Military Cooperation Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding on Military Cooperation, and a Double Taxation Agreement.

On October 25, President Kuchma traveled to Toronto, where he met with Ontario Premier Bob Rae and attended a Ukraine-Canada business symposium. The former Ukrainian prime minister then flew on to Edmonton, where, amid meetings with provincial government officials and members of the Alberta Ukrainian-Canadian community, President Kuchma was wooed by hundreds of schoolchildren who sang for him (in Ukrainian) in Edmonton's City Hall.

Before heading for Winnipeg on October 26, the president stopped briefly in Saskatoon, where he met with another prominent Ukrainian-Canadian, Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow. Later that day, Mr. Kuchma arrived in Winnipeg, on the eve of the special G-7 Conference on Economic Transformation in Ukraine. That evening, he was the guest of honor at a community banquet attended by over 800 people. Senior federal government Cabinet Minister Lloyd Axworthy announced the creation of a bilateral national employment service with Ukraine, along with a Canadian research and training reform program.

The next day, President Kuchma opened the G-7 meeting at the Hotel Fort Garry, where 80 senior officials from 14 delegations had gathered. Mr. Kuchma outlined his commitment to economic reform in Ukraine: by cutting Ukraine's budget by 15 percent of the country's gross domestic product, increasing interest rates, setting inflation targets to lower the rate from this year's 842 percent to 210 percent next year, increasing the price of goods, water and electricity, introducing the long-awaited hryvnia and privatizing 6,000 government-owned facilities. In turn, the G-7 group offered Ukraine $1.2 billion in assistance.

However, the Ukrainian president's Winnipeg visit was upstaged by an unexpected appearance by Russia's Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, who encouraged G-7 delegates to help Ukraine pay off its $363.3 million debt to Russia. A few hours later, while Mr. Kuchma was visiting a rural Manitoba dairy farm, 600 First Nations demonstrators protested in the hotel lobby, demanding that the Canadian government and its G-7 partners first address native poverty in Canada before offering financial aid to other countries like Ukraine.

| Home Page |