UkraineIs in presence of Prime Ministers Volodymyr Groysman and Justin Trudeau signs one of the first three business agreements after signature of the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement

During his visit, Justin Trudeau met with President Petro Poroshenko to reiterate Canada’s steadfast support for the people of Ukraine, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and its reform efforts. The Justin Trudeau also met with Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Parliamentary Speaker Andriy Parubiy.

While in Kyiv, International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and First Vice Prime Minister -Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv signed the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA). This agreement represents a significant milestone in Canada’s relationship with Ukraine, and will generate commercial benefits for Canadians and Ukrainians alike.

Justin Trudeau, Volodymyr Groysman, Chrystia Freeland and Stepan Kubiv also met with members of the Canadian and Ukrainian business communities to underline the importance Canada attaches to deepening Canada-Ukraine commercial relations. During this meeting, first three agreements were signed between Canadian and Ukrainian companies.

Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation and Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the creation of joint industrial activities in Ukraine. Both parties agree to work closely together to define the best possible way to rapidly and cost-efficiently upgrade Ukrainian Railways’ locomotive fleet. The agreement was signed in Kyiv on July 11, 2016 by Wojciech Balczun, Head of the Board, JSC Ukrainian Railways and Erwin Gerber, Head of Locomotives Business Unit, Bombardier Transportation.

The second agreement was signed between Bohdan Kupych (Borsch Ventures/E-Farming) and Leah Soroka &Olena Voloshina (IFC). The parties will create eFarmer360⁰ , a solution addressing farm business management needs of farmers and credit risk assessment requirements of banks.

NAU (the National Aviation University of Ukraine), Richard Peters, Vice President of the Canadore College of Canada and Sergiy Vakarin, Chairman of the Board of UkraineIs signed a Memorandum of Understanding on future cooperation. Canadore College and NAU agreed to launch joint research projects as well as student exchange whereby Ukrainian students study selected programs and modules at Canadore College as part of their curriculum, and Canadore students get an opportunity to complete BA/MA studies at NAU.

Fast-track preparation of this agreement and its conclusion at the high-level event became possible thanks to the efforts of First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv, Minister of International Trade of Canada Chrystia Freeland and their teams; Canadian Ambassador in Ukraine Roman Waschuk and the trade representatives Clinton Martin, Yury Mardak and Liliana Zhylina; Vitaliy Nebylitsa and Sergiy Vakarin of UkraineIs; City of North Bay Director for Development Volodymyr Shehovtsov; NAU Vice Rector Volodymyr Shulga and his colleagues: Richard Peters, Martin Galvin and Wade Culliton of Canadore College.

Both schools that signed the agreement have a successful history of training of aviation professionals. NAU graduate is the President of ICAO in Montreal. NAU’s student Andriy Muzychenko is a member of the Mars Hopper team that won the global first place at NASA’s largest technological contest in the world, Space Apps.  And Canadore provides training of aviation mechanics and technicians, as well as pilots, for North American made helicopters, personnel capable of servicing Western-built aircraft and engineers with the experience of advanced manufacturing/cutting-edge engineering.

This cooperation is also important in the context of the contracts between Ukroboronprom’s Antonov with Esterline CMC Electronics (CMC) that have been concluded today. Also, “Ukroboronprom” Concern discusses with NAU ways to implement Unmanned Aircraft Technology.

Canadore delegation will also visit the National Museum of Aviation of Ukraine. The Museum is #4 in the rank of top 10 Aviation Museums of the World after the Smithsonian and museums in Ohio and the UK.