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Trudeau reaffirms close partnership between Canada and Ukraine
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PM announces his first official visit to Ukraine
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will make his first official visit to Ukraine next month, and will likely bring the same message he delivered to the Canada-Ukraine Business Forum in Toronto on June 20 that Canada remains “a staunch ally” of Ukraine. Mr. Trudeau told the audience that Canada would continue to defend Ukrainian sovereignty “in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, as well as its support to insurgents in eastern Ukraine,” and that Canada stands “firmly” beside Ukraine in its efforts to “strengthen democracy, respect the rule of law, and encourage economic growth.”
“We will continue to contribute assistance and expertise whenever possible,” said the prime minister, “because we understand that a strong democracy is at the heart of economic prosperity.”
“Ultimately, we want to help create stability in Ukraine so that the middle class can grow and thrive,” he added. Mr. Trudeau will visit Ukraine on July 11-12 and will meet with both President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, after attending the NATO Summit of Heads of State and Government in Warsaw. The Canadian PM met with Mr. Poroshenko at last year’s Paris Climate Conference, and his ministers of foreign affairs (Stéphane Dion) and defense (Harjit Sajjan) have met several times with their Ukrainian counterparts since Mr. Trudeau’s Liberals formed the government last November. One of Prime Minister Trudeau’s top priorities while he’s in Ukraine will be to sign the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA), which International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, a Ukrainian Canadian, who also spoke at the forum, has been finalizing.