Press Release (98)78 12 June 1998

Statement NATO-Ukraine Commission Meeting at Defence Ministers Level Held at NATO Headquarters, Brussels on 12th June 1998 The NATO-Ukraine Commission met today for the first time in Defence Ministerial session. Ministers took full account of the results of the Commission meeting at Foreign Ministers level in Luxembourg two weeks ago, in particular the agreement in principle to station a NATO liaison officer in Kyiv and the Ukrainian proposal to establish a peacekeeping training centre on the basis of the Yavoriv training area. Ministers exchanged views on a wide range of questions of defence related and military cooperation between NATO and Ukraine. NATO Ministers encouraged Ukraine to further develop her efforts to implement defence reform and enhance interoperability with NATO forces as a part of Ukraine's strategic course of integration into European and Trans-Atlantic structures. In this regard Ministers underscored the importance of the work of the Joint Working Group on Defence Reform. Ministers underlined the progress in NATO-Ukraine cooperation in the framework of PfP, in particular the new focus of the Ukrainian IPP on achieving interoperability between Ukrainian Armed Forces and NATO. NATO Ministers welcomed Ukraine's contributions to SFOR and her continued readiness to cooperate closely in the field of peacekeeping. Ministers reiterated Ukraine's role as one of the key factors of security and stability in Central and Eastern Europe, and the continent as a whole. They expressed their readiness to fully contribute to the further development of the distinctive partnership under the Charter and to the further enhancement of cooperation in defence related areas and military matters in PfP. In this context, they agreed that further meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at Defence Ministers level will play a significant role.