Sestanovich addresses community at State Department reception (07/04/99)

Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations

Sestanovich addresses community at State Department reception

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - One of the principal joint events of the Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations here last week was a reception for its participants held on Friday, June 25, at the State Department.

The evening, held in the ornate, ceremonial Benjamin Franklin Room on the top floor of the State Department building, not only gave conference participants a chance to rub shoulders with U.S. government officials; it also gave U.S. and Ukrainian officials an opportunity to publicly, but diplomatically, touch on some irritant items on their bilateral agenda that need attention: reports about political shenanigans in this year's presidential elections, continued corruption, visa problems, and the extradition of former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko.

Welcoming the more than 400 conference participants and guests on behalf of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, her ambassador-at-large and special advisor on the new independent states (NIS), Stephen A. Sestanovich, focused on three of these areas.

First, he underlined the need to strengthen respect for political freedom in Ukraine, about which there have been some negative reports recently.

"Ukraine has been a leader in the political area, in advancing political freedoms," he said, "but election years like this one can put pressures on those freedoms, and we want to pay close attention to freedom of the press, to the conduct of a free and fair election, to the widest possible participation by Ukrainian citizens in making their national choices."

Making Ukraine an attractive place to invest, "so that our economic relations become another strong bond between our societies," was another aspect of bilateral relations cited by the ambassador. Among the obstacles to this end, Mr. Sestanovich cited corruption and "not fully reformed government regulatory structures."

He also noted that U.S. visa procedures in Kyiv need improvement, eliciting an audible murmur from the audience. "These are areas in which, working together, we can create a stronger partnership that reflects those deep common interests," he said.

Speaking about the U.S. government's involvement with the Ukrainian American community, Ambassador Sestanovich said it has benefited from its participation in such meetings as the Joint Conferences.

"For us, this reservoir of this community of Americans represents an immense source of information about Ukraine, of understanding what's happening in Ukraine and of access to Ukraine to help cement Ukrainian-American relations," he said.

Describing the importance of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship, Mr. Sestanovich recalled a recent Time magazine cover picture of Secretary Albright at a U.S. airbase in Germany. The headline on the picture of her in a flak jacket and holding a mobile phone said "Albright at War" and carried a description in smaller type that she was conferring by phone with Ukraine's foreign affairs minister. He said that Secretary Albright had sent a copy of the magazine to Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk with a signed note saying: "Now the whole world knows about our close relationship."

That close relationship is, of course, not based on magazine cover statements, but on common interests, common achievements and cooperative efforts, as well as on the "robust aid program" supported in Congress, said Ambassador Sestanovich.

He then invited Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Anton Buteiko, whom he called "a superb partner" in working out bilateral problems, to the microphone.

Although not scheduled to speak that evening, the Ukrainian ambassador used the occasion to focus on "the remarkable development" of U.S.-Ukraine relations since its independence. Ukraine once was "terra incognita" to American diplomacy, said Ambassador Buteiko, who participated in the negotiations with the United States regarding removal of Ukraine's strategic nuclear arsenal. Now the two countries enjoy a strategic partnership, "which should be developed even further," he added.

Ukraine is grateful for U.S. aid, but, as Ambassador Buteiko said he has stressed from the outset, "we have to be in a position not to ask for any assistance."

On the other hand, as he had pointed out during a reception on the previous day in Congress, "Ukraine also contributed a lot to the security of the United States by removing more than 2,000 nuclear warheads that were targeted at the people and cities of the United States."

Ukraine is building a democratic country, he said, and it has already tested its democracy in a peaceful and democratic transfer of power in previous elections. The coming elections will pass that test as well, he said. "And those elections will be fair and just. I am sure of that," he emphasized.

"Certainly we have problems. Certainly we have corruption," he added. "Certainly we will solve those problems also with the assistance of the United States. And I'm sure that the legislation of the United States will permit to extradite those who would come to the United States after committing corruption in Ukraine," he said.

Ukraine has sought, thus far unsuccessfully, the return of its former prime minister, Mr. Lazarenko, who remains in U.S. custody following his detention at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in February. Ukraine has accused Mr. Lazarenko, now being held in San Francisco, of misappropriating millions of dollars of government funds.

The U.S.-Ukraine strategic partnership will be tested successfully in the future, Ambassador Buteiko said, because of the "very good team" dealing with Ukraine at the State Department, headed by Secretary Albright, Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott and Ambassador Sestanovich. "And together I am sure we will overcome the visa and other problems," he said.

Introducing Ambassador Sestanovich, Ihor Dlaboha, general manager of the Ukrainian Broadcasting Network, which sponsored the reception, spoke about the important work accomplished in the United States by Ukrainian Americans in the years preceding Ukraine's independence.

With Ukraine now independent, he added, the community has to consider how best to develop its own future and its relationships with Washington, Kyiv, the Ukrainian people and the new Ukrainian immigrants coming to the United States.

The evening's program was opened with a greeting by Dr. Roman Goy, coordinator of the Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations.

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