Canadian GG to visit Ukraine and Latvia

OTTAWA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) - Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada Julie Payette will visit Ukraine and Latvia from January 17 to 19, according to a news release by the Office of the Secretary of the Canadian Governor General Monday.

This visit will allow the Canadian governor general to show her support to Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members serving on Operation UNIFIER in Ukraine and on Operation REASSURANCE in Latvia, said the news release.

Chief of the Canadian Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance will accompany the governor general to the two counties.

This will be Payette's first overseas visit as Commander-in-Chief to meet with Canadian troops since she was sworn in last year. She will be the first Canadian governor general to visit Latvia.

Operation UNIFIER is the Canadian Armed Forces training mission in Ukraine through which Canada provides military training and capacity-building assistance to Ukrainian military forces.

Now, Canada leads NATO's multinational enhanced Forward Presence Battle group in Latvia, and has 450 troops to the deployment as part of Operation REASSURANCE. Enditem