Ukraine and Canada conclude updated free trade agreement
Ukrainian News | 25 September 2023
Ukraine and Canada conclude updated free trade agreement
This follows from a statement by the Ministry of Economy, the Ukrainian News agency reports.
"The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, signed an updated free trade agreement between the two countries. This document will replace the existing Agreement, which has been in effect since 2017," the message reads.
According to the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine - Minister of Economy Yuliya Svyrydenko, the new Agreement brings significant changes to the trade regime between Ukraine and Canada.
Also, within the framework of this document, Ukraine and Canada concluded an agreement on digital trade, which became the second for our country after the corresponding Agreement with Great Britain.
"This Agreement takes the trade relations of the two countries into a new dimension because when preparing the document, we applied a new liberal method in the field of services - everything that is not prohibited is allowed. That is, the Agreement does not regulate what is allowed, but on the contrary - it carefully prescribes exceptions to the complete freedom of provision services. This should contribute to the maximum development of trade in services between Ukraine and Canada. The section dealing with trade in goods contains new rules of origin that allow the use of parts or ingredients from the EU, Britain, and Israel for goods exported to Canada duty-free. This will expand the involvement of Ukrainian manufacturers in global supply chains," explained Svyrydenko.
According to her, the section on protection of business interests was updated in the Agreement, adding a comprehensive and modern set of legal instruments for investment protection.
The conditions for the temporary entry of employees of Ukrainian companies to Canada for the purpose of providing services were also expanded and simplified.
In addition, according to Svyrydenko, the signed Agreement contains a modern section on digital trade between Ukraine and Canada based on the principles of free and open development of the digital ecosystem of the economy.
In particular, the digital component of the Agreement guarantees freedom of cross-border transfer of information, freedom to choose the location of equipment, freedom of source code, as well as open access to the Internet.
"The new Agreement also includes updated chapters on rules and procedures of origin, competition policy, monopolies and state-owned enterprises, public procurement, environment, labor, development and administration of measures and transparency, anti-corruption, and responsible business conduct. In addition, it regulates financial services, temporary entry for businesspersons, telecommunications, trade and gender, and small and medium-sized enterprises... The concluded Agreement should also be a step towards active preparation for the future economic development of the de-occupied Crimea and the role of the Crimean Tatars in this. It is about strengthening the role of indigenous peoples in the economy and international trade," Svyrydenko said.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, Canada announced long-term support for Ukraine.
