Canada vows to provide technical assistance to Ukraine on NATO membership

Canada as once again vowed to provide technical advice to the war-ravaged country in the process of joining the NATO military alliance.

While speaking to the reporters before the start of the EU Council meeting in Brussels on Monday, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said that Ottawa will continue to provide technical advice to Ukraine in establishing a strong military mechanism. 

"As far as Ukraine is concerned, Canada has always been a supporter of NATO's open door policy. We are currently widely involved in supporting Ukraine in these negotiations in order to establish strong security mechanisms. At this point, we will continue to offer strategic technical advice to Ukrainian negotiators," the Ukrinform News agency quoted the minister as saying.

"In this context, we will continue to provide technical advice to Ukraine to strengthen its negotiating position," she added. 

Notably, the EU Council of Foreign Ministers is scheduled to take place on Monday in Brussels with the participation of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. It is worth noting that Canada had been supporting Ukraine even before Russia announced a full-fledged war against Ukraine.

Days before the start of the "special military operations", Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and assured him to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trudeau even talked to Putin on several occasions.

Later, in April, the Canadian Prime Minister again visited Kyiv and again met Zelenskyy where he pledged to provide military assistance to Ukraine.

Canada will push for making changes in the transition period of joining NATO

Further, while commenting on the ongoing issue of Sweden and Finland joining NATO, the Canadian Foreign Minister advised both the countries to move swiftly with their plan. Joly also said that Canada will try to push some changes in the process of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "The transition period between application and ratification should be shortened. We will work with close partners to persuade them to speed up the ratification process as well," said Joly.

Earlier on Saturday, two days after Finnish President Sauli Niinisto announced joining the NATO military alliance, citing the evolving security situation, he held a telephonic conversation with his Russian counterpart, Putin. However, the talk between the two presidents did not go well, as President Vladimir Putin said that the relations between the two neighbours could be “negatively affected” if Finland follows through with its plans.

Image: @melaniejoly/Twitter