Arsen Avakov: The National Guard of Ukraine is expanding cooperation with the Canadian Armed Forces in the field of military training

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the Ministry of National Defense and the Armed Forces of Canada signed a technical agreement on cooperation.  The main areas of such cooperation are an improvement of logistics, tactical medicine, combat, engineering and language training of fighters.

Today, on May 18, 2018, Yuri Allerov, the head of the NGU, and William Seymour, the Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff Operations, Canadian Joint Operations Command, signed a technical agreement in the presence of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada to Ukraine Roman Vashchuk.

“Canada is a true friend of Ukraine. We are cooperating on some issues, and I am grateful to the Canadian authorities for their cooperation and support for the reforms that we are carrying out in our ministry.  Now we are talking about the professional training of NPU and NGU staff, cooperation with the National Guard in the sphere of security and joint training, which we organize.  The main thing is interaction, which helps to achieve real results”, – said the Minister.

The agreement on cooperation between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the Ministry of National Defense and the Armed Forces of Canada will not have a termination date, and within its framework the parties will be able to develop cooperation in various areas.

“The cooperation of the NGU with the Canadian Armed Forces in the area of military training is very important for us.  When our officers understand each other, speak the same language, use the same weapons and have a common understanding of challenges and threats – all this multiplies our strength in the fight against the enemy”, – stated Arsen Avakov.

In turn, William Seymour, the Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff Operations of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, underscored the progress of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in reforming the law enforcement agency and in opposing the hybrid war.

Canadian Government assistance to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine is channeled through the International Technical Assistance projects.  In particular, this is a project to support the training of police officers, strengthen the capacity of NPU and engage experts from the Canadian police.  Currently, the total sum of assistance amounts to C$25 million.