Ukrainian parliamentarians from the Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence and the Committee on Law Enforcement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine paid a week-long working visit to Ottawa.
The priority areas of the visit were the practices of working with classified information, which is a topical issue for Ukraine, external audit processes in the security and defence sector, development of civil-military culture, and the experience of Canadian colleagues in exercising parliamentary control over the activities of the armed forces and defence structures.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Canada Yuliya Kovaliv emphasised during a meeting with the Ukrainian delegation:
The visit also included meetings with Canadian counterparts in the security and defence sector. During a meeting with Canada’s Minister of National Defence Bill Blair, the Ukrainian delegation discussed urgent items to strengthen Ukraine’s defence capabilities: timely delivery of military assistance packages, assistance in providing equipment and weapons from other countries, and investments in Ukrainian defence production.
The main aspects of the meeting with the Speaker of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus, were negotiations on security partnership, implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, including the return of deported and captured Ukrainians, and the upcoming session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
A series of meetings was also held with the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, chaired by Yvan Baker; members of the relevant committees in the Canadian Parliament: The House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence and the Senate Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs; representatives of the Communications Security Centre, the Office of the Auditor General and the Office of the Canadian Forces Ombudsman.
The visit was part of the project “Parliamentary Accountability of the Security Sector in Ukraine” (PASS Ukraine), which the Agency implements together with the Parliamentary Centre, in cooperation with The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and with the support of Canada’s Foreign Policy—Global Affairs Canada as part of the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPs).
