By Laura Payton, CBC News Posted: Sep 17, 2014
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko thanked Canada warmly for its support and called for closer ties between the two countries in a speech to Parliament on Wednesday.
"I am thankful to Canada. Your country was one of the soundest supporters of Ukraine," he said after being greeted by a standing ovation from MPs and senators gathered in the House of Commons.
"Let's look beyond the crisis and war … we need to pay more attention to the bilateral co-operation in such spheres as energy, trade, investment, information, aerospace and many other technologies," Poroshenko added.
Canada and Ukraine also committed to pick up where they'd left off on stalled trade negotiations.
"I hope that both negotiation teams translated our firm signal, the prime minister's and mine, and the next time we will see each other, we will have [a] Ukraine-Canada free trade agreement to sign."
While Poroshenko warmly praised Canada for its support and longstanding relationship, in his speech and in an exclusive interview with Evan Solomon, host of CBC News Network's Power & Politics, he outlined additional requests: expanded loans, intelligence sharing and freer trade.
Article Continues
