On July 19, a joint briefing of the First Vice Prime Minister/Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv and Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development of Canada in the framework of her visit to Ukraine took place.
In his address, Stepan Kubiv emphasized on Canada's fundamental role as an important strategic partner of Ukraine for many years. As an example of Ukraine's support by the Government of Canada, the First Vice Prime Minister mentioned the Program of Assistance to Ukraine, launched immediately after Ukraine had declared its Independence in 1991, aimed at the most important directions for Ukraine: development of democracy, strengthening of the rule of law, education, ecology, agribusiness, as well as economy, trade and entrepreneurship.
Stepan Kubiv also reminded that as of July 1, 2018, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade registered 11 projects of technical assistance from the Government of Canada to the tune of 137.5 million Canadian dollars.
Minister for International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau, in turn, noted the progress of Ukraine in implementing vital reforms. She also emphasized that Canada seeks to help Ukraine to introduce the necessary democratic and economic transformations to be accountable to its citizens, to become a more peaceful and prosperous country of equal opportunities for all Ukrainians.
During the briefing, Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau announced the launch of a new program of financial support for innovative projects aimed at improving the economic opportunities of women and the most vulnerable layers of the society in order to overcome gender and socio-economic inequalities, including through creating favorable conditions for entrepreneurship in Ukraine. The total fund of the programs will be $ 30 million.
"When we invest in women and the most vulnerable, we create equal opportunities for them with everyone else: to become agents of change and to promote better living conditions for all Ukrainians", she emphasized.
The First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine welcomed the initiatives of the Government of Canada on the policy of supporting women's entrepreneurship. He also expressed confidence that the new program would become an effective mechanism for overcoming urgent socio-economic challenges caused by the military conflict in eastern Ukraine.
"We agreed with the Minister on the establishment of a Ukrainian-Canadian working group to jointly determine the most important areas for business support, where should be directed this assistance", commented on the reached agreements Stepan Kubiv.
Stepan Kubiv expressed his sincere gratitude to the Canadian Government and the Canadian people for their strong support, and also thanked for their readiness to host the next Ukraine reform conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment