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Poroshenko to discuss Donbass situation and aid prospects during visits to Canada and USA

At the close of the visit to Canada, Poroshenko will proceed on his way to the USA where he is to hold talks with President Barack Obama

© ITAR-TASS /EPA /TATYANA ZENKOVICH, file

KIEV, September 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko leaves for Canada and the Unites States on Wednesday for working visits. Yevgeny Perebeinos, director of the informtion policy department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, told journalists on Tuesday, "The visits to the USA and Canada will contribute to an increase in support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and to expansion of technical and other aid to the country, specifically, within the context of the stability of the situation in Donbass".

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When in Ottawa, Poroshenko will hold talks with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. They are expected to discuss the situation in Ukraine's east and Ukraine's Association Agreement with the European Union, rafified by the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday. It is not ruled out that the question of dispatch of monitors by Canada to the early elections to the Verkhovna Rada on October 26 will be touched upon.

Apart from discussion of the situation in Ukraine's east and matters connected with rendering of assistance by Canada, the Ukrainian side may touch upon the question of establishing a zone for free trade with Canada. Early in August, such a possibility was mentioned by Pavel Sheremet, the then Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine

At the close of the visit to Canada, Poroshenko will proceed on his way to the USA where he is to hold talks with President Barack Obama. That will be already a third meeting between the leaders of the two countries in the past three months. They had earlier met in Warsaw, and then at the NATO summit in Newport.

Besides, the President of Ukraine will be Ukraine's second president, after Viktor Yushchenko, invited to address a joint session of both Houses of the US Congress. Valery Chaly, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, referred to Poroshenko's forhtcoming speeh before the American legislators as a "good signal", for such an invitation is an extraordinary event. The invitation is a top manifestation of respect for both the people of Ukraine and personally the President. Petro Poroshenko will be only a second foreign leader to address the (US) Congress over the past three years".

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Ukraine crisis Pyotr Poroshenko Canada

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