The embattled government of Ukraine has reached a free trade agreement with Canada.
The deal will be signed Tuesday when Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk visits the Quebec hamlet of Chelsea to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose summer residence is at nearby Harrington Lake. Yatsenyuk is on a visit to the U.S. and will head to Britain after his stop in Canada.
Although Canada's trade with Ukraine is modest — it was worth $244 million last year, down from $322 million the year before — observers say the deal will be an important political gesture, sending a message of confidence in the reforms being undertaken by the government of Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko.
Trade between the two countries is worth less than the $400 million in low-interest bilateral loans Canada has provided to Ukraine since its political crisis began in November 2013.
It also comes nearly two years after Harper announced a tentative Canada-European Union trade agreement, and nearly a year after holding a signing ceremony to celebrate it, although the details of that agreement are still being finalized. The government says that trade deal is worth $12 billion a year to the Canadian economy.
Statistics for 2013 compiled by the World Trade Organization suggest Ukraine doesn't crack Canada's top 40 trading partners.
