2000: THE YEAR IN REVIEW
Canada-Ukraine relations: more assistance programs
Canada welcomed a new Ukrainian ambassador and Ukraine welcomed further Canadian assistance during the year many people view as the start of the new millennium.
On March 9 President Leonid Kuchma issued a decree naming Dr. Yuri Shcherbak as Ukraine's ambassador to Canada and another naming the 65-year-old physician/epidemiologist and writer as Ukraine's representative to the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization.
Dr. Shcherbak previously served as Ukraine's ambassador to the United States from 1994 to 1998 and to Israel from 1992 to 1994. More recently, he served as President Kuchma's foreign affairs advisor.
Later in the year, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk visited Canada on June 11-13, meeting with government officials and business leaders.
He arrived in Manitoba's capital city, Winnipeg, on June 11, and spent the next two days in the province - meeting with Premier Gary Doer and laying wreaths at both the Taras Shevchenko Monument on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature and the Famine Monument at Winnipeg City Hall.
Mr. Tarasyuk also attended a private dinner hosted by the Winnipeg-based Ukrainian Canadian Congress's executive and a breakfast meeting organized by the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and the Canada Ukraine Business Initiative.
The foreign affairs minister then headed east to Ottawa, where he met Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and received significant Canadian government assistance for Ukraine, including an additional $18 million to help Ukraine close the fourth reactor of the Chornobyl nuclear power station.
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) also threw in more than $10.4 million for several projects in Ukraine to support scientists, increase exports and control corruption.
In late September, Maria Minna, the federal minister responsible for CIDA, announced a further $4.2 million contribution to Ukraine during a visit to Ukraine. At a September 27 news conference in Kyiv, the minister for international cooperation said the University of Alberta-based Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) would receive $2.7 million of the new money to plan and implement the Canada-Ukraine Legislative and Intergovernmental Project.
During the project's three-and-a-half-year term, the Edmonton-headquartered CIUS will organize study tours, consultations with experts and seminars for Ukrainian legislators, government officials and experts in six policy- or legislative-related areas or themes, which will be determined by a Canadian-Ukrainian panel assessing Ukraine's priorities and Canada's capacities and expertise.
The Canadian partners in the project include the provincial governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, as well as the Office of the Speaker of the House of Commons.
The CIUS's partner in managing the project will be the Community Capacity Foundation, an independent body established to advance democratization in Ukraine and headed by former Ukrainian Parliament Vice-Chairman Viktor Musiyaka.
In the meantime, on November 16, the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Resource Center opened its doors at the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine. The Kyiv-based center's resources include a specialized collection of Canadian government publications and federal and provincial laws. Funded by CIDA and the Canadian Friends of Ukraine, the new center also received Canadian assistance in the form of new computers, printers, scanners, barcode readers and a photocopier.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 7, 2001, No. 1, Vol. LXIX
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