NATO leader praises cooperation with Ukraine (07/08/01)

NATO leader praises cooperation with Ukraine

by Maryna Makhnonos
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson on July 5 praised cooperation with Ukraine, confirming NATO's determination to continue ties with the country, but urged state authorities to provide reforms without delay in order to successfully move toward integration with Europe.

"Let me be very clear: in no way can foreign assistance be a substitute for a nation's own reform efforts," Lord Robertson told a symposium on "The World in the 21st Century: Cooperation, Partnership and Dialogue."

"How fast and how close Ukraine will move toward its European partners will be determined by the seriousness with which Ukraine tackles the double challenge it faces: embarking on international cooperation and moving ahead with genuine domestic reform," he added.

He stressed in particular the importance of defense reform, saying that it carries "both political and social implications," but "delaying painful choices is no solution."

Other issues he addressed at the symposium included dealing with possible regional conflicts and the inevitability of globalization in the future, which the NATO leader said "certainly offers our societies the opportunity to become more prosperous," but also makes them "more vulnerable."

"We all have a stake in each others' stability and well-being," Lord Robertson said. "The Chornobyl catastrophe is a vivid reminder that events in one country can affect many others."

Lord Robertson urged his audience - composed of NATO officials of various levels and Ukrainian government leaders, including Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko, as well as scholars from the Academy of Sciences - "to make the right choices," as interdependence between countries will only increase.

"It is particularly poignant that we are discussing the challenge of integration, globalization and interdependence in Kyiv, today the capital of an independent Ukraine, but just a mere 100 kilometers from the Chornobyl catastrophe," he said.

Lord Robertson, who arrived in Ukraine late on Wednesday, July 4, for a two-day visit, praised Ukraine's flexible foreign policy, its peaceful division of the Black Sea Fleet with neighboring Russia and its accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He also placed a high value on the country's peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo.

Ukraine has proclaimed itself neutral and surrendered its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal to Russia, its key trading partner, but also signed a charter on a distinctive partnership with NATO in 1997, participating in joint military exercises and civil safety programs.

Russia opposes NATO's expansion to the East and is concerned with Ukraine's active cooperative ties with the alliance.

President Leonid Kuchma visited the NATO headquarters in 1995 soon after he won his first term and proclaimed that Ukraine was interested in a "new level" of relations with alliance, according to the Kyiv daily Den.

Kyiv was the first city in Eastern Europe where NATO opened an office, its information and documentation center, which stressed Ukraine's particular importance in the region. Top NATO officials are frequent guests in this former Soviet republic, and this is Lord Robertson's sixth visit to Kiev.

In an article published by Den earlier in the week, Lord Robertson said that NATO's particular criticism of Ukraine and stronger requirements only highlight the country's great role.

Speaking after meeting with Defense Minister Oleksander Kuzmuk, he said the country's "size and pivotal geographic role make Ukraine a key to ensuring Europe's long-term stability."

"That is why NATO has consistently sought to assist Ukraine, as it charts its way into the future," Lord Robertson said.

While trying to maintain good relations with Russia, a key trading partner and its main energy supplier, Ukraine manages to progress in its ties with the West, noted Lord Robertson.

"Ukraine has also demonstrated that a policy of gradual integration into European structures and good relations with Russia are not mutually exclusive," he underscored.

At a meeting with Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh, the secretary general said bilateral relations between NATO and Ukraine have improved. Mr. Kinakh responded that cooperation with NATO is "an integral part of Ukraine's political and economic integration into world and European systems," Interfax reported.

Also during the visit, Lord Robertson was expected to meet with President Kuchma, Foreign Affairs Minister Zlenko, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ivan Pliushch and Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Yevhen Marchuk.

| Home Page |