Ukraine and Canada will soon begin negotiations on expanding the Free Trade Agreement

Ukraine and Canada intend to begin discussions on expanding the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries in the near future, said Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada Andrii Shevchenko. “I think it is time to expand the Free Trade Agreement to the services and investment sectors. It will be the next logical step, and I think that it is actually well past time for us to begin these negotiations... We will begin negotiations on expanding the scope of the Agreement in the coming months, I believe that it will happen no later than this October,” the ambassador said live on the Radio NV. He also stated that there was a preliminary agreement on the visit of the First Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv to Canada to hold a meeting of the bilateral commission administering the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Canada. “I think it will offer a good occasion to start negotiations,” Shevchenko said. He noted that in the services sector, Canada was very interested in everything related to the IT. “This is a very strong direction for our cooperation. Large Canadian companies are now placing major orders with Ukrainian IT professionals. We are talking about thousands of Ukrainian IT professionals currently involved in creating software for Canadian companies. The agreement must create better conditions for this activity,” the ambassador explained. As reported before, the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Canada came into force on August 1, 2017. On October 31 last year, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Hroisman stated that Ukraine and Canada should start developing a new agreement on mutual protection of investments and a free trade area in services between the two countries.