On February 16, 2022 the President of the Canada Ukraine Chamber of Commerce Zenon Potoczny delivered remarks and CUCC position on the modernization of the Canada Ukraine Free Trade Agreement. This was done during the seating of the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade.
For almost five years, Canadian and Ukrainian businesses and investors have benefited from the provisions of the FTA. Since it came into force on August 1, 2017, CUFTA has laid new foundations for trade, growth, and investment in both countries. According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, in 2021, the volume of bilateral trade in goods between Ukraine and Canada increased by 49.3% to almost $373 million, exports of Ukrainian goods doubled to $144 million, imports of Canadian goods increased by 27.4% and amounted to $228.5 million. And despite having positive dynamics of increasing overall bilateral trade volumes, there is still a lot of potential and possibilities to diversify trade.
Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce conducted consultations with our partners, members and additional stakeholders that benefit from or may benefit from certain new implementations in Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement. As a result of our findings, we proposed that Cross-border Trade in Services, Investment, Immigration matters, and elimination of non-trade barriers are areas that would benefit Canadian companies doing business in Ukraine.
Additionally, we emphasized that CUFTA still needs more promotion among Canadian businesses, and CUCC is constantly working towards more awareness.
The full translation is available under the link https://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2?fk=11515238
