Following the bilateral meeting, President noted that Canada and the Canadian Prime Minister personally was a true friend of Ukraine. The President believes friendly relations between the countries are based on common values, democracy, respect for citizens' freedoms and the rule of law.

The Head of State thanked Canada for the financial, humanitarian and political assistance provided over the last two years that are among the most difficult years in the history of Ukraine: "Ukrainians have made sure once again that Canada is not just a special partner, but also a true friend that will not leave Ukraine in a difficult situation". The President expressed special gratitude to Canada for supporting Ukrainian military, providing medicines, equipment and ammunition, training Ukrainian patrol police and funding the law enforcement reform.

In his turn, Justin Trudeau stressed that Canada was closely monitoring the developments in Donbas and implementation of the Minsk agreements. "I would like to emphasize once again that Canada stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine providing response to the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and developments in eastern Ukraine," the Prime Minister said. He noted that Canada would remain a partner of Ukraine in the protection of its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Justin Trudeau noted that Ukraine had made extremely important steps for the fulfillment of the Minsk agreements. "In terms of the security component of Minsk, Russia is not a positive partner yet," he emphasized and underscored the necessity of ensuring international unity and pressure on Russia aimed at encouraging it to implement the Minsk agreements.

One of the key issues of the negotiations between countries during the visit was an initiative on visa liberalization for Ukrainians

President Petro Poroshenko informed: "We have agreed to start immediate consultations on the visa regime liberalization. I am grateful to the Canadian side for the beginning of this project".

In his turn, the Prime Minister of Canada confirmed that that the visa issue was extremely important for Ukrainians and noted that the work in that direction would be substantially increased in order to simplify the process of obtaining Canadian visas for Ukrainian citizens.

"The Free Trade Area Agreement we have signed today will make a significant contribution to the development of investments and business between our countries. Obviously, we expect the increase in the number people who will visit the two countries," Justin Trudeau said and added that the work over visa liberalization would be intensified in the coming months.

 

The Ukrainian President thanked Ukrainian Canadians for the expansion of cooperation between the two countries. "The role of the Ukrainian community of Canada is hard to overestimate. You support us during the war. Your volunteer assistance has been crucial," Petro Poroshenko said and added that the assistance was important both during the war and on the track of reforms in Ukraine.