REUTERS
A special assessment mission from Canada's Immigration Department is set to arrive in May.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk on Monday, February 10, met with Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine Larisa Galadza.
Extending the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement was named a key issue of the meeting, the government press service reports.
Oleksiy Honcharuk noted that the "most pressing issue of our bilateral relations is the extension of the FTA in the field of services and investments."
"According to my information, technical consultations at the expert level have been completed. We now need to kick off formal negotiations on the extension. It is important that the relevant directives from the Government of Canada and the President of Ukraine are received in the coming weeks," Honcharuk said.
Read alsoZelensky: Ukraine, Canada to work on extending bilateral FTA
The next issue discussed was visa facilitation for Ukrainians. "We are committed to shaping a dialogue that will yield real results in the process of visa waiver for Ukrainians. Last year, we were invited to join the ETA + program. Already this May, we look forward to the arrival of a special assessment mission from the Immigration Department of Canada. Our Government will exert maximum efforts to assist it, so we hope that in the near future we will have positive results towards the Ukrainian-Canadian visa waiver," PM said.
Apart from that, the parties discussed the revision of the EDC (Export Development Canada) investment policy and the unblocking of support to the Canadian businesses in the framework of investment activity in Ukraine. Oleksiy Honcharuk voiced a proposal to identify steps that would allow EDC to review its assessment of investment opportunities in Ukraine. Ambassador Larisa Galadza noted that the Government of Canada would pay due attention to informing EDC of all opportunities and conditions that Ukraine offers to Canadian investors.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ukraine-Canada FTA came into force on August 1, 2017. It immediately lifted up to 98% of all restrictions and customs duties in mutual trade.