By Julia Payne and Promit Mukherjee
BANFF, Alberta (Reuters) -Canada is considering helping build a pension system like its own for Ukraine, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said on Tuesday.
“I had the privilege with Sergii to meet a number of pension funds and a number of very important investors to look at what’s going to come next,” he said, while addressing a press conference with Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko at the beginning of G7 meetings in Banff, Alberta.
“We thought also how we could work together eventually, to share best practices in building a pension system in Ukraine,” Champagne said.
Canada has a lot to offer in the reconstruction of Ukraine, he said, adding that he and Marchenko met with some big Canadian pension funds such as Fairfax and others.
Support for Ukraine is expected to feature in discussion during the Group of Seven finance leaders’ meeting in the mountainous Canadian resort town.
Champagne said the support Canada has provided Ukraine since the start of the war in 2022 will continue.
Canada is the rotating host of the G7 this year and will be holding a series of meetings of finance leaders through Thursday. The gathering is a precursor to the main leaders’ meeting in June.
Ukraine is attending the meeting as a guest.
“The fact that we have Minister Marchenko with us here in Canada as a special guest, is a big signal to the world that we are standing side by side with our Ukrainian friend.”
“We are going to hold Russia to account, and we are going to all be part of this reconstruction for Ukraine,” Champagne said.
The G7 meeting is also likely to discuss attracting and mobilizing private investment for reconstruction, G7 officials have previously said, which is estimated to require more than $500 billion over a decade.
U.S. President Donald Trump had a two-hour call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday and said after the call that Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations for a ceasefire.
However, the Kremlin has said the process would take time and Trump has indicated he was not ready to join Europe in imposing fresh sanctions to pressure Moscow.
(Reporting by Julia Payne, Promit Mukherjee and David Lawder; Editing by Sandra Maler and Rod Nickel)
