Opening remarks

by NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission

Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the level of Defence Ministers.  It is a particular pleasure to welcome our Ukrainian colleague, Mr. Yurri Yekhanurov.

At the NATO Summit in Bucharest, Heads of State and Government welcomed Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO and agreed that Ukraine will become a member of NATO.   They also decided to begin a period of intensive engagement with Ukraine at a high political level to address the questions still outstanding pertaining to Ukraine’s Membership Action Plan application.

At the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission held in Bucharest, Heads of State and Government reaffirmed the importance of the NATO-Ukraine relationship and welcomed Ukraine’s progress in the reform of its defence and security sector.

It is in the context of these decisions that our meeting is taking place.  Today we will address the further development of NATO-Ukraine defence and security relations and discuss how to intensify NATO-Ukraine co-operation in implementing defence and security sector reform.

In addition, we will also review Ukraine’s support to NATO’s operations, as well as its envisaged contribution to the NATO Response Force, the first Partner to do so.

Avant d’inviter M. Ekhanourov à formuler ses observations liminaires, je voudrais d’abord souligner que l’OTAN reste disposée à aider l’Ukraine à réformer en profondeur ses structures de défense et de sécurité.  En outre, l'Alliance apprécie beaucoup la détermination de l'Ukraine à poursuivre sa contribution à nos opérations et à d'autres initiatives.  Nous sommes déterminés à continuer de développer ce partenariat stratégique.  Permettez-moi à présent d’inviter le ministre Ekhanourov à nous présenter ses observations liminaires.