Introductory remarks

Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary General. Mr. Ministers, Ambassadors, please allow me first of all, to express my gratitude to all Allied countries for your continued support of the important framework of our cooperation, namely the NATO-Ukraine Commission.

Today I am substituting for my Minister, who could not make it here for obvious reasons, and you are certainly aware that Arseniy Yatsenyuk was recently elected new speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine.

I think that on behalf of NUC we could convey to him our best wishes of success in his important endeavour.

Dear colleagues, at the outset I would like to say a few words about the domestic situation in Ukraine. Recently, we have successfully passed one more test of democracy by going through early parliamentary elections, recognized by numerous international observers as democratic, transparent and fair.

Today's political environment in Ukraine is vibrant and dynamic. Nevertheless, the leading political forces are engaged in finding compromise on extremely important issues of national development. Thus, the process of the formation of a governing coalition is successfully completed.

 Right now we are at a stage of the creation of the new government. As far as Ukraine's strategic course of Euro-Atlantic integration is concerned it remains unchanged. It is defined by the national legislation and aimed at NATO membership as a final goal.

I would like to reiterate here an appeal by President Yushchenko to all the European partners to assist and support our intention to join the Membership Action Plan. And next summit of the Alliance in Bucharest is considered to be a cornerstone in this regard.

We positively estimate our practical cooperation within the framework of the Intensified Dialogue on Ukraine's aspiration to membership in relevant reforms, and NATO-Ukraine annual target plan for 2007. Ukraine is committed to continue and even strengthen its contribution to NATO-led operations and missions.

Suffice it to say that Ukraine is the only partner nation which is involved in all NATO-led peacekeeping and anti-terrorist operations. Political dialogue aimed at achieving common view on further developments of our relations with NATO, while maintaining good neighbourly relations and strategic partnership with other nations, in particular Russian Federation, remains a strategic task and is our priority in the sphere of Euro-Atlantic integration.

A comprehensive public awareness campaign on NATO and NATO-Ukraine cooperation should complement this dialogue. We believe that strong and target-oriented efforts in this important area will result in growing people's support of Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic policy. We witness positive trends in this sphere.

Ukraine intends to develop further framework for its relationship with the Alliance, which would reflect progress achieved by Ukraine in the sphere of Euro-Atlantic integration.

Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary General.