Canadian government gives Ukraine priority in its foreign policy review (05/15/05)

Canadian government gives Ukraine priority in its foreign policy review

OTTAWA - Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Center) and chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group welcomed the federal government's new "white paper" on foreign policy, unveiled on April 19 in Ottawa, not only for its vision, but for its commitment to invest Canadian resources in strategic, foreign development assistance in countries such as Ukraine.

The International Policy Statement (IPS) sets out a new framework to make Official Development Assistance (ODA) more effective by targeting Canadian efforts and resources into key countries and key sectors within these countries. Canada currently provides development assistance to 155 countries. Of those countries, only 18 receive assistance valued at more than $10 million annually and 54 receive less than $1 million annually. Under the new IPS, the government of Canada will focus bilateral development programming on 25 "Development Partners."

Ukraine is the only European country to make the list of 25 "Development Partners" and that is great news according to Mr. Wrzesnewskyj.

"Since my election last year I have been speaking about the tremendous opportunity that exists in evolving our 'special relationship' between Canada and Ukraine into a strategic relationship," said Mr. Wrzesnewskyj. "Our 'special relationship' was based on hundreds of thousands of human ties between our two countries and the fact that the 1.1 million Ukrainian-Canadians can be considered one of Canada's founding peoples. During the Orange Revolution our government gave substance to the term "special relationship." By including Ukraine on the new list of 25 Development Partners our government has clearly signaled that this "special relationship" is evolving into a strategic one. There is tremendous potential for Canada's and Ukraine's relationship to develop in the areas of commerce, environment, defense and culture."

The new international plan focuses on five sectors: good governance, private-sector development, environmental sustainability, health and basic education. Canada Corps, which was the mechanism by which 500 Canadian election observers were provided during the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, will continue to play a key role in developing partnerships between government, civil society and the private sector.

The federal government's "white paper" on foreign policy can be located at http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/cip-pic/ips/ips-en.asp and the complete list of Development Partners can be found at http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/index-e.htm.

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