A local militia maintains a tank in Novoazovsk, eastern Ukraine, on Oct. 21, 2015. (Xinhua/Alexander Ermochenko)

KIEV, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Canada on Wednesday added Ukraine to its Automatic Firearms Country Control List (AFCCL), allowing its exporters to sell weapons to the East European country, the Ukrainian state-run news agency Ukrinform said.

"The move means that the Canadian government lifted a de-facto embargo on the weapon sale to Ukraine, which lasted for many years," the agency said in a statement.

According to it, Ukraine became the 40th country that is allowed to import weapons from Canada.

The AFCCL includes members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as Australia, Botswana, Chile, the Republic of Colombia, Finland and other countries.

The inclusion in the AFCCL does not guarantee the automatic approval of arms exports. Canadian exporters still would have to apply for export permits to sell arms and related components to Ukraine.

Ukraine and Canada launched the talks on placing Ukraine on the AFCCL in 2015.