Canada-Ukraine free trade modernization: Zenon Potoczny highlights key milestone

Kyiv recently hosted an event marking the modernization of the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA). The Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce organized this event on March 20 at the Toronto-Kyiv Complex.

Zenon Potoczny, Chair of the UWC Economic Prosperity and Investment Committee (EPIC) and President of the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce, was a keynote speaker. Other notable speakers included Natalka Cmoc, the Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine; Sharif Nagi, Trade Commissioner at the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine; and Yuriy Kryvosheya, Vice President of the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine.

“We had the pleasure of meeting with friends and partners from the Embassy of Canada, the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian and foreign businesses, international organizations, and various diplomatic institutions,” the organizers wrote.

Participants discussed the revisions made to the accords between Kyiv and Ottawa. In September of the previous year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finalized a modernized free trade agreement between Ukraine and Canada. This agreement marks the first of its kind for Ukraine since the onset of the full-scale invasion in 2022. After a negotiation period that spanned several months, the Canadian Senate gave its approval to the revised version on March 19.

The agreement encompasses opening the services market through a negative list approach, meaning everything not prohibited in the agreement is ultimately allowed, as Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy. Elucidated. 

“The Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) is an important milestone in Canada-Ukraine relations, which will support our commercial relations for many years to come to the benefit of respective governments, workers, consumers, businesses, and entrepreneurs,” those present at the conference in Kyiv said.

During the event, bilateral memoranda of cooperation were also signed between the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce, Kherson Oblast Military Administration, and the Borodianka Village Council in Kyiv Oblast.