NATO launches ‘Intensified Dialogue’ with Ukraine

At a meeting in Vilnius on 21 April, NATO invited Ukraine to begin an ‘Intensified Dialogue’ on Ukraine’s aspirations to membership and relevant reforms, without prejudice to any eventual Alliance decision.

The meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the level of ForeignMinisters, also agreed on a series of concrete and immediate measuresto enhance cooperation in support of Ukraine's reform priorities.

Support for reforms

These include measures to strengthen democratic institutions, reinforcepolitical dialogue, and reinvigorate co-operation in defence andsecurity sector reform.

Ministers also agreed toenhance public diplomacy efforts in order to improve understanding ofNATO in Ukraine and to enhance Alliance support in addressing thesocio-economic impact of defence reform.

The Intensified Dialogue will build on these efforts and the current mechanisms for cooperation.

“The pace at which any partner comes closer to NATO is based on performance in respecting NATO standards and values, ” NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters, “NATO and its member states stand ready to do what we can to help Ukraine achieve them.”

The formula of ‘Intensified Dialogue’ has its roots in the 1997 MadridSummit, at which NATO Heads of State and Government decided “tocontinue the Alliance’s intensified dialogues with those nations thataspire to NATO membership or that otherwise with to pursue a dialoguewith NATO on membership questions.”

These dialogues “coverthe full range of political, military, financial and security issuesrelating to possible NATO membership, without prejudice to any eventualAlliance decision.”