Ukraine's Ambassador to Canada Vadym Prystaiko has said he is optimistic about the settlement of the issue of the simplification of the visa regime for Ukrainians travelling to Canada.

"In 2005, we canceled the visas unilaterally, and since then I have not seen any step meeting us halfway. The embassy and our ministry did a lot of work [in this direction], but the Canadians have their own reasons in order not to improve the visa conditions for Ukrainians," he told reporters on Tuesday.

He said that "this is the right of every country to protect its borders from unwanted immigrants."

"I believe that Ukraine is not a source of dangerous, illegal immigrants. That's why I go to the [Canadian] government and say that if you want more Ukrainians to see how today's Ukraine is different from what it could be if it moved westwards, show them this," the diplomat said.

"I'm an optimist, but not a naive optimist. There are serious procedural issues, and not all will turn out as we want," Prystaiko said.

He said that there is no possibility in Canada to divide certain categories of citizens on legal grounds.

"They cannot [liberalize the visa regime] for journalists or diplomats. They don't have such an opportunity," he said.

He noted that there should be no situations when a delegation of 32 Ukrainians is invited to a conference on the coal industry, but visas are issued to only 28 of them, with a deputy minister for coal industry and three MPs being denied visas. Or if a band comes, but the drummer is not given a visa, he said.

"I may not love a drum as an instrument, but it does not mean that the band can play without him," Prystaiko said, adding that all these inconsistencies need to be addressed.

He said that "the visit by Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Rybak will help intensify bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Canada."

He noted that the trade between the two countries in 22 years rose to $500 million.

"Problems [in trade relations] probably exist, but the trade is growing... There are objective reasons why we don't have such rapid active trade cooperation," he said.

Prystaiko added that Ukraine is currently not investing in projects in Canada.

"But we are now holding negotiations with a Canadian company, which plans to invest up to $250 million in Ukraine at the first stage, and $1 billion in general," the diplomat said.

Canada also stopped the signature of a free trade agreement with Ukraine, because "we have taken steps within the World Trade Organization, which do not satisfy them," he said.

"We were holding talks and were close to the signature... but the Canadians proposed postponing the signing of the agreement," Prystaiko said.

He also spoke about the exchange of experience at the level of the leaders and students of higher educational institutions in Ukraine and Canada. A delegation of the heads of higher educational institutions from Canada visited Ukraine in February 2013, whereas the rectors of Ukrainian universities visited Canada in November 2013, he said.

"Over the past 18 months the number of Ukrainian students in Canada has increased by 43%," he said.

In addition, Canadians show an interest in studying in Ukraine, especially in the study of Ukrainian culture, art, and ethnographic research, Prystaiko said.