Video interview

Q: Mr.. Duray, you're the head of the NATO Information and Documentation Centre in Kyiv. Thank you for joining us today to talk about what that centre does and your priorities for the coming months.

To begin, what is the mission of the centre?

Michel Duray: The centre was opened in 1997. It was six years, just after the Ukrainian independence and two years before the Kosovo crisis. And it was the first time that NATO would open such a centre, such an office in a partner country.

So basically, the mission of our centre, the main mission, is to inform the population on the benefits of the NATO Ukraine chapter, which was signed the same year of the creation of the centre and, as well, to inform the Ukrainian society and the Ukrainian authorities about the changes within NATO itself.

As a part of the public diplomacy division, the NATO Information and Documentation Centre appears to be a public diplomacy embassy in Ukraine and we try to develop information programs to explain what we are.

Q: And following up on this question, could you describe your day-to-day tasks and, also, how many people work in the centre?

Michel Duray: Yes, of course. To begin with, we have eight people working very professionally in the centre. Our day-to-day work is basically based on the following: First of all, we'll help people who are coming to see us and we provide them with information, we help them to find information on security-related issues and on NATO-related issues. We can also ask them to give them their e-mail address and we develop a database and a mailing list so that they can be informed on-line, I would say, on what is happening in NATO.

The second aspect of our day-to-day work is a distribution of publications. You know that apart from the English and French publications, we can also distribute... we distribute as well a lot of Ukrainian documents, in Ukrainian on NATO, such as the NATO Review on CDs, such as the Novyny NATO, which is a quarterly dedicated to Ukraine, printed by NATO. And we, as well, propose CDs with the Nato Handbook in Ukrainian and English, which is very useful for the people. And so, each aspect of our day-to-day work is very important. We distribute documentation.

A third aspect of our day-to-day work is, as well, very important, it is to finance... co-finance projects with non-governmental organisations or universities which are developing either curricula, either seminars, either roundtables, either publications as well, and we work on a day-to-day basis with them to have these seminars happening. This is a lot of work and we go in a lot of regions of Ukraine. So, if the people are interested by this, they can contact the project manager of the NIDC.

A fourth task that we do on a regular basis is to give press briefings and provide information to the representatives of the mass media in Ukraine on the current issues which are happening in NATO and on the current issues of the NATO-Ukraine relationship.

I, myself, participate to many seminars as well and we try to bring to all seminars in Ukraine experts from NATO so that they can, with a lot of knowledge, explain what really is the importance and what really is the thrust of the relationship and how we do develop our programs with them.

Q: And NATO's image did suffer on some occasions in the past, for example, following the Kosovo crisis. Has NATO's image in Ukraine improved?

Michel Duray: It is true that during such a crisis, like the Kosovo crisis, it is normal that the image of NATO has been damaged in Ukraine. However, we tend to consider the opinion polls like the tides: they go up and down.

Basically, today, in Ukraine, we have a core group of about 25 percent of the population who is for NATO, pro-NATO. A third of the population, about 35 percent is against NATO. But the rest is undecided or not interested.

And so, this is basically an average which has been stable for years and recently, during the last months, with the implementation of the NATO-Ukraine Action Plan, with the participation of Ukrainian troops to the Stabilisation Force in Iraq with Poland, and with all these changes, the image of NATO is improving, definitely, and so, we hope it will continue in the future.

Q: And speaking, in terms of NATO's image, what stereotypes, what misperceptions still have to be overcome would you say?

Michel Duray: There are many stereotypes and myths about NATO in Ukraine and I'm sure, not only in Ukraine, but in former Soviet countries.

One of them is that NATO is exclusively a military block which is a filiale of the United States.

Another myth is that Ukraine could get the economic benefit from EU without being in the EU, but through membership in NATO.

Another myth as well, is that NATO is supra-national organisation which is able to dictate its will to its own countries.

Another myth is that NATO is not a political organisation, but exclusively a military organ.

So you see, there are a lot of misconceptions which are extremely important to modify and to clarify today, especially in the regions of Ukraine.

Q: And you had mentioned earlier for example, positive developments, like the NATO-Ukraine Action Plan, the development of NATO-Ukraine relations. Are people aware in Ukraine of these various aspects of the NATO-Ukraine partnership?

Michel Duray: It is true within the time frame of six years. A lot of things have been done. And today, we can say that NATO is a topic which is known, let's say, in the capital. We inform on-line the Parliament, we inform on-line the government, we have relationships with all the ministries. And the experts and the people who are dealing on a day-to-day basis, with the co-operation with NATO, know about NATO and know what we are doing. I must say that the intelligentsia in Kyiv is well-aware of the NATO topic today.

Further more, there are a lot of articles in the press on a very regular basis, so we can say that the population in Kyiv is aware of the relationship between NATO and Ukraine, especially since the signing of the Annual Target Plan and the Action Plan between NATO and Ukraine in Prague last year.

However, we must admit as well that in the regions, this knowledge is far, far behind what it should be. And that may be by lack of interest or maybe because we did not make a sufficient effort until now.

During the last year, we have organised about 15 seminars in the region... in the regions of Ukraine. And we will continue this year so that the population in the region can be aware of the real benefits of the relationship between NATO and Ukraine and the real concrete benefits, apart from the excellent relationship in the framework of the defence reform and the security reform that NATO is having with Ukraine.

A few people know that, for example, the science program in Ukraine is very solid and is concerning millions of dollars. A few people know that NATO is financing retraining courses for former military officers. We have an excellent job placement rate. A few people know that NATO and NATO countries have financed a project to destroy small arms and mines in Donetsk, which was extremely popular in Donetsk itself, but in the other regions, they don't know about it. A few people know that there is a memorandum of understanding on civil emergency planning between NATO and Ukraine and that this part of the relationship is as well very important.

So you see, and I could quote other examples as well. So, the population in Ukraine, in the regions, is not aware of that... of aspect... of the aspect of the third dimension of NATO, and I think we have to publicise, to make some... not show, but to explain it to the population.

Q: And this is a logical follow-up question. So, how would you describe your main priorities and goals for the coming months?

Michel Duray: The first priority...priority number one is to continue to inform the regional elite about NATO, first of all.

The second priority that we have is, within the framework of the Annual Target Plan with Ukraine, to support the creation of all Ukrainian information centres by non-governmental organisations whose aim will be to inform by Ukraine on Ukraine.

The better the Ukrainian population is informed on NATO by the Ukrainian stantsiyas, the easier is our work as well. And so, it proves that the civilian society plays a big role in Ukraine. Therefore, this is a priority that we have: it is to support the development of this centre.

A third priority is to have some flagship events, like for example, a Winter Academy or to concentrate our efforts to some parts of the population. So these are the priorities and a permanent priority I would say is to try to have value for money and to have a quality... a good quality in our events.