At a joint press conference in Canada with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on Tuesday 7 March, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU and Canada are “stepping up [their] support for Ukraine, including [their] military support”.
The EU has so far provided military equipment worth €12 billion and aims to train 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers by the end of 2023, Ms von der Leyen said.
She welcomed Canada’s announcement to provide generators to Ukraine and to support demining in the war-torn country.
Justin Trudeau announced the extension of Canada’s training mission for Ukrainian military engineers in Poland, which was due to end soon, until October, as well as the deployment of medical trainers.
On the bilateral partnership on critical raw materials, the Commission President cited the example of the Swedish company Northvolt, which is working with Vale Canada to increase the supply of low-carbon nickel used in electric vehicles. The Belgian company Umicore is planning to build a battery materials production plant in Ontario.
In the area of climate change (net zero emissions target by 2050), Canada raised the possibility of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on hydrogen. Another essential element of a successful transition is carbon pricing. “I am very happy to work for the European Union to join your Global Carbon Pricing Challenge. And finally, we want to create, as an overarching topic, basically as an umbrella, a green alliance between the European Union and Canada”, concluded President von der Leyen.
After her visit to Canada, Ursula von der Leyen is due to travel to the United States, where she will be welcomed on Friday by President Joe Biden.
See the EU/Canada joint press release: https://aeur.eu/f/5pa (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)