Tarasyuk meets with international leaders in Berlin (08/09/98)

Tarasyuk meets with international leaders in Berlin

Embassy of Ukraine

WASHINGTON - Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk attended an international forum on European integration on July 3-4 in Berlin that was sponsored by the Bertelsmann Foundation. The forum topic was Europe's mediating and stabilizing role in international affairs and ways of avoiding confrontations upon the European Union's enlargement.

This international event was attended by leading European government officials and politicians, including NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, Germany's Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration's Foreign Policy Department, Volodymyr Ohryzko, also took part in the forum.

In his remarks titled "Europe's Border Problems: Chances and Risks of a New Neighborhood," Mr. Tarasyuk stressed Ukraine's integration into European and Euro-Atlantic institutions as the nation's deliberate choice and strategic goal.

Minister Tarasyuk stated his nation's support for the concept of a "Partnership for Prosperity" initiated by Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who stated that such a program could serve as the cornerstone of the European Union's strategy toward Central and East European nations.

Mr. Tarasyuk held a series of bilateral meetings. He met with NATO Secretary-General Solana to discuss issues of NATO-Ukrainian cooperation and Mr. Solana's upcoming visit to Kyiv and with Wolfang Scheube, head of a German parliamentary faction, to discuss the current state of, and prospects for developing, the Ukrainian-German relationship, as well as relations between Ukraine and the European Union.

Ukraine is actively implementing a policy of integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures and its goal is full membership in the European Union, Mr. Tarasyuk said. He added that implementation of the Ukraine-EU Cooperation Agreement, which came into force on March 1, is the first step toward achieving this objective.

The Ukrainian foreign affairs minister also conferred with officials of Debis, a subsidiary of Daimler Benz, focusing on company projects already under way in Ukraine and a future project for joint production of a large aircraft based on Ukraine's Antonov-70.

Minister Tarasyuk met with Polish President Kwasniewski and both stated that the Polish-Ukrainian relationship is developing very favorably and dynamically. The Polish leader reiterated his nation's intention to continue aiding Ukraine in every way possible toward the latter's integration with pan-European institutions.

At a meeting with German Minister of Foreign Affairs Kinkel, Mr. Tarasyuk discussed the crisis in Kosovo, well as German-Ukrainian relations.

During the Ukrainian foreign affairs ministers' meeting with former Dr. Kissinger, a broad range of international issues was discussed, with both parties stressing the continuing need for U.S. support of Ukraine.

Mr. Tarasyuk met with Swedish Foreign Ministry State Secretary Ian Eliason to discuss the prospects for Ukraine's cooperation with the Council of Baltic Nations and some aspects of President Kuchma's upcoming sate visit to Sweden.

The foreign affairs minister also visited the Ukrainian Embassy's new building in downtown Berlin, which will be formally inaugurated in the fall of 1999, following the German government's transfer of the German capital from Bonn to Berlin.