Opening
Statement
by
NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson
at the Meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission
At Foreign Ministers Level
Welcome to this meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission
in Foreign Ministers’ session. Let me extend a warm
word of welcome to Foreign Minister Zlenko. This is our
second Commission meeting with Minister Zlenko, a long-time
acquaintance of NATO as he served as Foreign Minister
of Ukraine in the early nineties. It is an honour and
a privilege for us to be again here together with you,
Minister Zlenko.
The NATO-Ukraine Commission was created by the NATO-Ukraine
Charter, signed four years ago in Madrid by Allied Heads
of State and Government and President Kuchma. It reflects
both the Alliance’s and Ukraine’s belief that,
together, we have unique opportunity to significantly
contribute to Euro-Atlantic security.
It is for this reason that NATO supports a politically
independent and economically prosperous Ukraine as a crucial
factor for our overarching goal of a more stable continent.
I would like to express NATO’S sincere hopes that
the new Ukrainian Prime Minister, Mr. Kinakh, and his
government will continue the path of reform that has provided
good results for Ukraine in the recent past.
We believe our bilateral cooperation in defence-related
areas will benefit all countries in the region by promoting
cooperation and good neighbourly relations. We see no
contradiction, but rather a strong complementarity, between
Ukraine’s distinctive partnership with NATO and her
natural interest in developing relations with other countries
in the area, based on the principle of sovereignty. We
are gratified to see that relations between Ukraine and
her neighbours which have most recently joint NATO, including
the host country of this meeting of the Commission, continue
to develop successfully. This is yet again evidence that
NATO enlargement has contributed to regional security
in Europe.
NATO’s commitment toward Ukraine, undertaken in
1997, is as topical, relevant and important today as it
was then. Together, we continue to build on an already
impressive record. So far this year, we have made very
good progress in giving life to the Charter. The Work
Plan for 2001 is being implemented to the satisfaction
of both sides. The quality of our cooperation has made
a leap forward. In particular, as Ukraine proceeds with
the difficult task of reforming her defence establishment,
we applaud the continuing work of the Joint Working Group
on Defence Reform.
NATO and Ukraine continue to see eye to eye in the Balkans.
Our joint work in Kosovo demonstrates that our partnership
is not just a fair-weather affair; the Ukrainian contribution
to the joint Polish-Ukrainian peacekeeping battalion is
an example of how Allies and Partners can work together
to face common challenges. Jointly we remain committed
to a stable Balkan region and to other issues of regional
security that we will discuss today.
As one prominent field of our non-military cooperation,
let me also highlight our successful endeavours in the
field of civil emergency planning, where we are implementing
our 1998 Memorandum of Understanding, with NATO Allies
cooperating with Ukrainian counterparts both in repairing
the damage caused by natural disasters in Western Ukraine
during the last winter and in exercises to ensure we are
ready whenever and wherever natural calamities might strike
next. This is an area where our host country today has
been a true protagonist, as natural disasters do not observe
political boundaries, and Hungary was also affected by
the floods which plagued Western Ukraine in recent years.
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