Canada-Ukraine trade fell by 9% last year – ambassador

Last year, the volume of mutual trade in goods and services between Canada and Ukraine decreased by 9%.

Ukraine's Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"In bare numbers, last year looks sad, since the volume of interstate trade decreased by 9%. Meanwhile, this is comparable to both the overall downturn of the economies of both countries and the decrease in global trade," Shevchenko said.

He noted that the free trade agreement "softened the blow that the pandemic has inflicted on our trade and economies." "If you look closely at the statistics, there are very interesting indicators. For example, the export of Ukrainian services to Canada in 2020 decreased by only 0.7%, which, against the background of the general economic downturn, can be considered a very good result," the ambassador said.

According to him, Ukraine and Canada will have the opportunity to take full advantage of free trade.

As reported, the free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine entered into force on August 1, 2017 and made it possible to mutually cancel or reduce import duties on most commodity items.

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