Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised to promote “diversity and gender equality” within their respective industrial sectors.
The statement came as part of an announcement that Canada would be joining the Horizon Europe programme, a Brussels-led initiative “which funds collaborative research projects across a wide range of domains”.
“We warmly welcome today’s association of Canada to Pillar II of Horizon Europe, the European Union’s framework programme for research and innovation. This is an important milestone in the long-standing strategic partnership between the European Union and Canada,” the leaders said in a joint statement published on July 3.
“The EU and Canada will continue open, transparent, and inclusive co-operation as we go forward, actively collaborating with our businesses, civil society and academia.
“We will also ensure support for diversity and gender equality, as well as learning from the knowledge of Indigenous peoples,” they concluded.
Canada will join Pillar II of the programme, which focuses on industrial development within the technology sector, as well as in the areas of health, food, climate and civil security.
The EU has also drawn up association agreements for the programme with the UK, Ukraine, New Zealand and Israel.
The gender agenda will be a major fault-line in the 2024 European Elections with many citizens believing that woke gender policies "have gone too far," writes @bogdanosk. https://t.co/LOY8oXHS95
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 19, 2024
