Yesterday at 20:06
“Today, we have an opportunity to spread the message about what is happening in Ukraine, how Ukraine is changing, how its relations with the outside world and European partners are changing,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister of Regional Development Hennadiy Zubko said.
European Union lawmakers, G7 members, NATO officials, politicians and business people attended. Together – more than 800 participants from 40 countries gathered to discuss the achievements of economic and social reforms in Ukraine over the past three years.
“Three years ago in London, we were only talking about the theory of some of these reforms – say medical reform – but today 28 million Ukrainians have already signed up to their primary care physicians and we’ve created a national health service of Ukraine, a single-payer national health insurance,” Ukrainian Acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky led the Ukrainian delegation at the conference. He flew to Canada the day before. In Toronto, Zelensky held a meeting with Ukraine’s Canadian partners. The sides agreed to extend the Canadian military’s Operation UNIFIER until 2022. They also reached agreement on weapons and armored vehicles supplies.
“We move forward on discussions on the issue of arms support to Ukraine on top of the military mission that Canada is engaged in. We’ve also put Ukraine on an approved list of buyers for Canadian-made armaments and that is a positive step,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
“We can openly talk about this: we have agreed on the supply of armored vehicles. We have agreed that we will develop deals. We will have treaties,” Zelensky said.
Meanwhile, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said that people from the occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donbas will be banned from using Russian passports to enter Canada.
“We condemn Russia’s decision to issue Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens in the Donbas. Starting today Canada will take action to ensure that these passports cannot be used to travel to Canada. We encourage our partners to do likewise, Freeland said.
It was also revealed Lithuania will host the 2020 conference on supporting Ukrainian reforms.
“The conference will take place for the fourth time. And this time it will take place in Vilnius, as was set. I’m really happy and honored to announce this and definitely, I believe that we will be able to, so to say to, keep moving, and also try to understand that what we are doing is not just technical, economic, cooperation. It’s also about values. About principles,” Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Linas Linkevicius said.
The remaining two days of the conference have an interactive format. Participants at Ukraine House Toronto will be able to learn about business and investment opportunities in Ukraine – and get acquainted with the Ukrainian creative industries – including seven Ukrainian designers who took their unique collections to Canada.
