On March 3, the Chairman of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) General Council Josef Zisels, as well as the EAJC General Council members Dr. Anatoliy Podolsky (Director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies) and Leonid Finberg (Director of the Center for Studies of History and Culture of East European Jewry of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), were part of the reception organized by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter Initiative (Chairman Jim Temerty) in honor of the visit to Ukraine of the Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney. The aim of Kenney's visit was to propose Ukraine to join the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) – an intergovernmental body created in 1998 on the basis of the Stockholm Declaration. Over 30 countries are members of this alliance; however, of the countries belonging to the former Soviet Union only the Baltic countries have joined.
EAJC representatives Leonid Finberg and Josef Zisels made the following points during their speeches at the reception:

• at the present moment, this topic is possibly not the most important for Ukraine;
• should the civilizational choice that currently stands before Ukraine be made in favor of Europe, a number of problems will be solved, including the one brought up in the discussion;
• any discussion on the history and perspectives of the Ukrainian-Jewish relationship must be honest, open, self-critical, and without mutual accusations;
• in the system-wide crisis that Ukraine is currently in, Ukrainians and Jews do not stand in opposition to one another, but are withstanding the current ordeals together and are working together for the good of the future Ukraine, a democratic country with a highly developed economy;
• lessons on our history together and reflection upon them give reason to hope that, in the future, no one will be able to incite a new round of hatred between our peoples, as it has happened in days past.