Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to travel to Canada in early July to take part in a major donor conference and hold talks with top Canadian officials.
The Ukrainian presidential office said in a statement that during his July 1-3 visit, Mr. Zelenskyy will hold meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, members of Parliament and business representatives.
President Zelenskyy with also attend the Ukraine Reform Conference in Toronto, which is due to run from July 2 to July 4.
Co-hosted by Canada and Ukraine, the gathering will bring together more than 300 people, including foreign affairs ministers, heads of international institutions and civil society activists, to discuss and support Ukraine’s reform process.
Mr. Zelenskyy was inaugurated as president on May 20. His visit to Canada will come ahead of snap parliamentary elections in Ukraine set for July 21.
On the sidelines of the Toronto conference, Messrs. Zelenskyy and Trudeau will discuss “Ukraine’s reform efforts on its path to Euro-Atlantic integration, the security situation in the region, and how to further deepen Canada-Ukraine commercial relations,” according to a statement by the Canadian prime minister’s office.
The two countries “share a deep and historic friendship built on shared values and strong people-to-people bonds,” Prime Minister Trudeau said.
During his meeting with Mr. Zelenskyy, Mr. Trudeau said he will “reaffirm Canada’s commitment to the Ukrainian people, and discuss ways to deepen our economic partnership and create good, middle class jobs in both of our countries.”
Since 2015, Canadian armed forces have trained more than 12,000 members of the Ukrainian Army as part of Canada’s military training mission in Ukraine, UNIFIER, according to the statement.
More than 1.3 million Canadians are said to trace their ancestry to Ukraine.
With reporting by DPA.
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