Thank you, Chairman.
The Ukrainian people have paid an extraordinary price for their freedom. They paid a price in human lives in favour of their own inalienable rights. It is the responsibility of the new authorities to ensure that they justify that confidence the people in Maidan entrust in them.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress urges the new authorities of Ukraine to consult with civil society leadership as they move forward. We underline that in the coming days, weeks and months, we will see the historic course of Ukraine be determined. The establishment of a new government is only the beginning of the process of building a democratic and free country and much difficult work and many challenges lie ahead.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Ukrainian Canadian community stand ready to provide support to the people of Ukraine at this critical juncture in their history.
I understand that the previous speakers have given us a lot of background, so I'd like to be quite concrete here in some of the things I have to say. I have about 12 recommendations on what can be done to help build Ukraine.
The first one is I believe there is a need to create a government that will be inclusive and acceptable to the vast majority of Ukrainians, which responds to Mr. Goldring's point earlier and to others. There will be a need to immediately stabilize the political unrest in Crimea. There will be a need to normalize the relations with Russia. Ukraine does $30 billion a year of trade with Russia, and $40 billion a year with the EU, and it's not an either/or. Frankly, the fact that the Kremlin would close its door on Ukrainian exports when Ukraine indicated that it wanted to sign a deal with the EU is equivalent to the Americans stopping all the goods being exported at our border when the Prime Minister signed the trade agreement with the EU. It makes no sense.
We believe that the tax system in Ukraine needs to be reformed. There needs to be some progressivity in the tax system. Right now, the largest source of direct financial investment in Ukraine is Cyprus, a tax haven that people use to funnel money and siphon money from the state and from their own enterprises to avoid the payment of taxes. In 2012, the last year for which I have statistics, it's in the order of magnitude of $40 billion.
The new authorities will need to find the funds to ensure that the public sector can continue to be paid. We're talking about nurses, doctors, teachers, military, armed forces, and the police. That's good operating practice. One, it's important for providing peace, order and good government as we like to say here in Canada, but it's also very important in terms of putting an end to the endemic corruption we've seen where you can't get health care unless you pay a bribe, and the traffic police will stop you and they'll let you go if you pay a bribe. This is definitely an area that needs to be targeted.
Ukraine needs to deal with corruption. It's widespread and we need to assist them in dealing with it quickly and strategically. The priority areas for that would be the judiciary and the oligarchs, but also the top-to-bottom approach where no one is outside of the scope of the law.
On land reform, Ukraine still has a moratorium on the purchase of agricultural land, and they have to deal very carefully with how that situation is dealt with in the future. It's looked at by many as a possible source of revenue.
Mr. Yanukovych, on a trip in the third week of December, made a deal with the Chinese to lease out long term 5% of the best black earth soil in the world for a very long period of time. That's what we have to avoid, that they're actually mortgaging their future for immediate economic gain.
On privatization, there should be no rush to privatize. The last time this was done, there were many corrupt deals. Especially now in a period of financial pressure, there could be a tendency to not receive the best value for strategic assets.
We believe there needs to be a concrete path for not only signing the association agreement but also long term for Ukraine's EU accession once it has strengthened its agricultural and industrial sectors. There also needs to be a period of national reconciliation. It's very difficult, and we've all seen the images on the streets in the last number of days and months. Ukrainians will need to band together to build on this national project.
Finally, on technical assistance, we've spoken with the transitional authorities in Ukraine. They've indicated to us that the needs are great. The senior ranks of the public service in Ukraine were stacked with cronies and people who were not fit to hold the jobs that they were entrusted. People in the economic departments do not know what they are doing. They really do need help in a number of areas. Some of the areas I would suggest where Canada could provide some very significant assistance would be in things like developing sound fiscal monetary policy, agrarian reform, training of senior civil servants, police training. Today they have disbanded the Berkut, the SWAT police, and put in place a police force that has the values and ethics the people deserve and that is there to actually represent and protect the people.
Finally, in the long term what can Canada do? I would agree with what my colleague Mr. Potoczny has said on the point of an international assistance package. Other things would be the signing of a Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement, because I think trade is one of the best guarantors of a better future for our two countries; a liberalization of our visa regime between our countries; and to continue in the short term to provide humanitarian and much-needed medical assistance.
Thank you.