Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Ukraine on June 6, 2015. During the visit, he met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and discussed a broad range of issues related to Russian aggression in Ukraine and Canada’s support of Ukraine’s economic and democratic reforms. The Prime Minister and Ukrainian leaders emphasized that the Russian aggression must be met with firm determination, including the economic sanctions. During the talks, the leaders expressed the desire to conclude the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement in the near future. In particular, Prime Minister Harper announced that Canadian negotiators will return to Ukraine on June 15 with the aim of concluding negotiations as soon as possible.
While in Kyiv, Prime Minister Harper visited the Academy of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine and announced new projects to help Ukraine reform its security sector. In particular, Canada will help Ukraine build a new civilian patrol police force by assisting in the areas of community policing, in-service training, public outreach and engagement, and providing the new force members with uniforms and equipment. Canada will also deploy up to ten Canadian police officers to train the new force.
The New Pathway interviewed MP Ted Opitz (Etobicoke Centre), who participated in the Canadian delegation’s trip to Ukraine, upon his arrival back home.
NP: Is the likelihood higher now that Canada will provide Ukraine with weapons, after the G7 Summit in Germany?
TO: The situation has always been the same for us, we have to move in concert with our NATO allies in this. But there is so much more than that that is going on. I talked to the Ukrainian officials when I was there – Ukraine is actually doing quite well, they are holding off the Russians and their proxies. That is phenomenal progress. The Ukrainian military was reduced to about 5,000 people a year ago, you now have about a quarter million people in uniform training and starting to get professionalized. We are sending trainers in Ukraine to help build that capacity. Which is what President Poroshenko himself has asked, he didn’t ask for weapons from us, at least not in my presence, he asked for the training and capacity building.
NP: The Canadian government has been quite outspoken and direct as to the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Do you think that the other Western countries are becoming more direct about the Russian troops involvement in Ukraine?
TO: You’ve heard the messaging out of the G7 Summit. All of the leaders of the G7 condemned Putin unequivocally for his actions in Ukraine. Our Prime Minister had the strongest voice because he has continued to do that. At the G20 Summit in Australia he told Mr. Putin “To get out of Ukraine” and he looked him right in the eye when he said it from two feet away. And Mr. Harper has continued to say it around the world. You’ve also heard all of the G7 leaders talk about the information war and there were statements from the EU and G7 demanding that Russia stop that. And there is a large discussion in the West on how to address these issues. I would predict you will see some action on that probably soon.
NP: What is your impression from the visit, has Ukraine turned around the corner in reforms? Is there a chance it will go back to the old ways?
TO: Oh, no, no. Having talked to President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatseniuk, I believe, absolutely not. There is everyday moving forward, there is a good government that has a purpose and direction. I also met with several parliamentarians, they are brilliant. Many MPs are young, idealistic and determined to turn this nation around. Two the MPs we talked to came from private business in the energy sector. And they were incredibly knowledgeable and were able to contribute to the conversation and teach us a few things.
There is institution building, building of an energy plan, of the justice system and the police. There are so many things happening in Ukraine right now, I just marvel at how they are managing to keep all those balls in the air and still fight the war.
The New Pathway also talked to the president of Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce Zenon Potichny, who was in the Canadian delegation, about his impressions from the visit to Ukraine.
NP: Is there a will to conclude the negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Ukraine in the near future?
ZP: There was a clear message from President Poroshenko during the press conference with Prime Minister Harper that “we will do that”. So, signing of the Agreement is a matter of time. Everyone is hoping that the next stage of negotiations, which is due to start on June 15, will be the last one. There are several issues left, most of them in the agricultural sector.
Another issue, which was discussed during the talks, was foreign investment in Ukraine. Prime Minister Yatseniuk proposed to hold a Canada-Ukraine investment summit and Mr. Harper seemed positive about this idea. I offered the Chamber's assistance in preparation of such a summit, if it happens.
NP: What's Ukraine's economic situation right now?
ZP: It remains difficult, but is slowly improving. The negotiations with the creditors are moving ahead. It is positive that the IMF has said that it would continue funding Ukraine regardless of the outcome of those negotiations.
It seems as if many Western countries are having a renewed interest in dealing with Ukraine economically. The US-Ukraine investment forum just concluded, a big Swedish-Ukrainian business forum is scheduled for the next week in Kyiv, where I am going to participate too.
Ukraine needs to do some work still to protect foreign investment. During the visit, we raised the issue of dividend repatriation, which is now banned by the National Bank of Ukraine. This complicates foreign investment.
Another issue is high royalty rates in the oil and gas sector, which are probably among the highest in the world now. It seems that the discussion about the rates has renewed. We met with the group of Ukrainian MPs from the Parliament's energy committee which have registered legislation to lower the royalty rates significantly from their current levels.
NP: From this visit, did you get an impression that the real reforms have started in Ukraine?
ZP: The bureaucratic machine is very big and to change everything takes a long time. But I could feel the desire for reforms in the government during this visit. And I think that the Parliament is pushing the government in that direction every time the government moves slowly. The ordinary people have not felt the results of the reforms, the prices are up significantly and the incomes are not. But the government I think is doing a lot to reform the country.
Share on Social Media
