Statement to the press

by Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine at the press conference following the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council at the level of Heads of State and Government

  • 22 Feb. 2005 -
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  • Last updated: 02 Sep. 2009 16:26

Our dear friends, first of all I would like to share my impressions with you that I got from the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission. That was my first meeting in such a special format with Heads of State and governments of the North Atlantic Alliance.

I'm very thankful for that kind of atmosphere that we saw at the meeting, that was a business atmosphere, that was the attempt to friendly understand those developments that take place in Ukraine.

My people and my country received a great deal of compliments for recent developments and that is why, Mr. Secretary General, I would like to thank you for this.

I would like to thank you for a clear and proper management of today's meeting and I want to express my ideas about the results of this meeting that could mean great prospects for our cooperation.

Point number one, the main conclusion to this meeting, was the confirmation of a distinctive and strategic partnership between the Ukraine and NATO and the need for them in order to ensure the security and stability of the North Atlantic Alliance. Such an assessment was made by almost every speaker at the meeting.

For us, it is very important that Ukraine once again confirm its final goal, meaning, the European integration.

I'm pretty much sure, dear friends, that people who went on Kiev's squares and streets they were motivated because they wanted to see Ukraine in Europe not the neighbour of Europe because we are the country which is located in centre of Europe. And we would like to see Ukraine being integrated into the European Union and into the North Atlantic Alliance; and quite a lot was said about that at today's session.

During this meeting, probably, some kind of review of the current status of the relationship between Ukraine and NATO was made. The leaders of the countries, member states of the alliance, they highly assessed the practical contributions which is made by Ukraine in Euro-Atlantic security.

At the same time, the confirmation was made on the side of Ukraine to continue the development and deepen the cooperation with NATO by implementing joint projects.

I would like to express my special gratitude to our partners for establishing a new project which was called Mutual Trust Funds.

Speaking about prospects, speaking about the future of the relations between Ukraine and NATO, we agreed that the time has come to elevate those relations to an absolutely new level. Ukraine has made its position clearly about joining action plan on- Membership Action Plan.

At the same time it means that our country will be also using the possibilities that are provided by the existing instruments of cooperation, meaning the Action Plan between NATO and Ukraine and such.

And the last thing, during our discussion, we tackled both the prospects of the development of relationships between Ukraine and NATO, and Ukraine and Russia, under the condition of the implementation of our course for Euro-Atlantic integration.

I would like to clearly state once again that Russia is our strategic partner and Ukraine's policy towards NATO by any means will be against the interests of other countries including Russia.

Those were the major points that I would like to share with you.

Thank you.