We strongly condemn President Putin’s unjustifiable and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity. We are determined to defend our common values ​​and the rules-based international system. We are committed to advancing human rights, gender equality and inclusion, and the protection of fundamental freedoms. We call on Russia to cease its attacks on Ukraine immediately and unconditionally, withdraw its forces and all military equipment from Ukraine, and call on Belarus to stop facilitating and supporting the Russian invasion.

Humanitarian support

We stand with the courageous and resilient Ukrainian people as they defend their homeland against Russian aggression and suffer from the Russian military’s indiscriminate and unlawful attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. We abhor Russia’s grave violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and we will support all war crimes investigations in this regard. We urge Russia to ensure unhindered humanitarian access and safe and permanent passage for civilians. We will continue to cooperate closely in the delivery of our humanitarian assistance inside and outside Ukraine, and in support of a coordinated international response. The European Commission welcomes Canada’s exploration of opportunities to work with the European Emergency Response Coordination Center and Civil Protection Mechanism centers in Poland, Romania and Slovakia to help deliver aid to Ukraine.

Refugees

The European Union has generously taken in almost three and a half million Ukrainians fleeing Russian violence, offering them food, shelter, school and job opportunities, paying particular attention to the plight of children and offering them protection for the time they need. Canada has launched the Canada-Ukraine Emergency Travel Authorization (CUAET) as part of the Government of Canada’s broader support for the people of Ukraine. The European Commission and Canada will continue to coordinate support for people who have been forced to flee Ukraine, as well as assistance to Ukraine’s most affected neighbours.

Punishments

The EU and Canada have already adopted, in close transatlantic cooperation, unprecedented restrictive measures to impose massive costs on Russia for its military aggression against Ukraine. Canada and the EU have closely coordinated tough sanctions against Russian and Belarusian officials who facilitated Russian aggression; disconnect the main Russian banks from SWIFT; the closure of our airspace; the prohibition of transactions with the Russian Central Bank, and; reducing dependence on Russian energy raw materials. The EU and Canada have jointly suspended Belarus’ WTO membership. The Russian regime is paying a heavy economic price for its heinous attacks, to the detriment of its people and their future.

Together with our G7 partners and many others, Canada and the European Commission, within its competence, will further strengthen these sanctions and continue to degrade Russia’s economic, industrial, technological and innovative potential by supporting the extension of trade-restrictive measures in the financial sector and beyond. In this context, Canada and the European Commission, in accordance with its competence, will work to further strengthen law enforcement and the fight against the evasion of sanctions.

Green Transition

We reconfirm our shared commitment to accelerating the global transition to a green and carbon-neutral future and underscore the urgency of tackling climate change, including through the diligent implementation of the commitments made at COP26. We further agree that carbon pricing is an efficient, cost-effective and powerful tool to reduce emissions and drive clean innovation. We recognize everyone’s leadership in this area and are committed to working together to engage international partners in expanding the global coverage of carbon pricing.

We will continue to deliver on our climate finance commitments to help developing countries adapt to climate change and meet their climate goals. We will also work together to ensure an ambitious outcome from the post-2020 global biodiversity framework negotiations and remain committed to the transition to circular and more resource-efficient economies.

Energy cooperation

We will deepen our cooperation towards a net-zero energy transition, including taking concrete steps in our energy cooperation to strengthen security of supply and efforts to eliminate the dependence of the EU and its Member States on Russian energy. A working group dedicated to the green transition and LNG is being created to develop a concrete action plan on these topics, and our leaders will meet this week to discuss further the strengthening of energy cooperation.

We remain committed to hosting a Clean Technology Summit in Canada in 2022 to advance our shared commitment to the green transition of our economies, while helping to promote our energy security, currently so threatened by Vladimir Putin’s unlawful war of aggression against Ukraine.

Safe and secure supply chains, including for critical raw materials

Building on the solid foundation of trusted trade provided by the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), we will strive to ensure open and reliable supply chains between and among our businesses. We underscore the importance of our shared commitment, as set out in the Canada-EU Strategic Commodities Partnership, to ensure the security of critical minerals and metals supply and value chains, including reducing dependence on Russian minerals and metals, with a view to facilitating the transition to a climate-neutral economy.

Democracy, cybersecurity and the fight against disinformation

President Putin’s attack on Ukraine amounts to an unprecedented attack on democratic principles and the rules-based international system. He also stressed the need for democracies to strengthen international cooperation and coordination to stand up against authoritarianism and to develop new approaches to promote and protect democracies around the world.

We are committed to advancing our cooperation on hybrid threats such as cybersecurity, both in response to Russian aggression and longer-term goals. Together, we will step up our efforts to coordinate assistance to the Ukrainian and Moldovan governments on cyber resilience and defence, internet access and countering disinformation, working with EU Member States and other like-minded partners, and through the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism.

We will seek to further strengthen responsible state behavior in cyberspace and work together to increase cyber resilience against destructive, disruptive and destabilizing cyber activities by states and non-state actors and to hold those responsible to account. of these activities. .

We further reconfirm our joint commitment to pursue deep cooperation on ethical artificial intelligence, safe and secure data flows, and digital credentials through agile regulation and common standards.

Food safety

We are very concerned about the food crisis caused by President Putin’s war in Ukraine and are committed to working together to address the immediate and long-term impacts of the war on global agricultural supply chains and food security. We recognize that the impacts will be felt most strongly by the most vulnerable countries, including those already facing a humanitarian crisis. We will work together to support humanitarian partners, such as the World Food Programme, to meet the emergency food and nutrition needs of the growing number of acutely food insecure people. We must also work with international partners to help vulnerable countries build the resilience of their agricultural and food systems to conflict, climate and economic shocks.

Despite the many challenges we face together at this time, it is important to recognize key milestones, including the 5^and anniversary this fall of the provisional application of CETA and the Strategic Partnership Agreement. Both agreements have brought clear and concrete benefits to Europeans and Canadians, and we look forward to their full ratification. Dialogue and cooperation on all major global geopolitical and economic, energy and environmental issues leading up to the next Canada-EU Leaders Summit should continue.