Statement
by
H.E. Borys Tarasyuk,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Dear Secretary General,
Your Excellencies,
First I have to inform EAPC partners that today Ukraine and
NATO had another fruitful meeting within Ukraine-NATO Commission,
the results of which are presented in the NUC Statement. Second,
let me state that Ukraine fully shares the decisions reflected
in yesterday's NAC Communique. In this context I would like
to express Ukraine's support to the initiative announced at
yesterday's NAC meeting by Mme. Albright concerning an overall
framework for NATO-EU interaction, including meetings between
the NAC and equivalent EU bodies. Already at this stage we voice
our strong interest in being involved in the activities of such
forum.
I cannot also but welcome yesterday's PJC meeting bringing
NATO-Russia cooperation back to the mainstream of the Founding
Act.
I would like also to thank our honorary guest speaker, Special
Coordinator on Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe Mr. Hombach,
for his most valuable briefing. Ukraine shares the approach
that the EAPC has a substantial role to play in fostering political,
economic, judicial, humanitarian and other non-military aspects
of stability on the Balkans and throughout the EAPC area.
However, the lessons learned from Kosovo demonstrated that
it is impossible to find a universal model for effective settlements
of the crises. In this regard Ukraine welcomed the ambitious
EAPC Action Plan 2000-2001 aimed at avoiding future and reducing
the current risks to European stability by means of preventive
diplomacy.
Ukraine fully appreciates KFOR achievements in restoring peace
in the province, though we should admit that the ultimate goal
of building a democratic and multiethnic Kosovo is still rather
distant. The problem of refugees, promotion of democratic institutions,
judicial and law-enforcement system and combating crime remain
at the top of the agenda. I want to use this opportunity to
reiterate Ukraine's commitment to continue its active contribution
to NATO-led KFOR and also to increasing its contribution to
UNMIC with 110 more civil policemen in addition to 30 in place.
No doubt, that the real long-term stability may be reached only
if all the countries of the region are engaged in confidence-building
and economic recovery. In this regard I am pleased to welcome
Croatia as a new member the EAPC.
The EAPC and operational PfP have a solid potential for consolidating
Euro-Atlantic efforts in conflict prevention and crisis management.
We support the Operational Capabilities Concept that will reinforce
PfP's operational capabilities and improve NATO ability to generate
tailored forces to conduct NATO-led PfP operations.
Apart from Balkans issues I would like to mention civil emergency
planning where EAPC contribution in terms of crisis management
is particularly valuable. Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination
Center (EADRCC) proved to be an efficient instrument of coordinating
international efforts in this field. And Ukraine is most active
in this field of practical cooperation with the Alliance.
Besides, together with Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, Ukraine
reached an agreement to create the "Tisza" engineer
battalion that would deal with the natural disaster relief,
theUkrainian part of the battalion is ready to accomplish its
missions. We hope that tomorrow, ay a meeting of the Defence
Ministers of four countries our partners would be able to confirm
readiness of the other three parts of the battalion. We also
continue preparations for a disaster relief exercise to take
place in Ukraine on 23-25 September 2000 with the involvement
of EADRCC and EADRU. We look forward to hosting this event and
hope for active participation of NATO and Partner countries.
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate the importance of
ratification of SOFA by the Parliament of Ukraine. It opened
the way to full engagement of the Yavoriv PfP Training Center
for joint PfP activities. All NATO members and partners are
welcome to make use of its unique operational capabilities.
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