4 April 2008
The NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC) session opened the last day of the Bucharest Summit. At the fourth NUC Summit in history, Allied leaders met with President Viktor Yushchenko to discuss the current state of relations and chart the way forward in a distinctive partnership.
Following the decision of the Allies to support Ukraine’s membership aspirations – Allies agreed that Ukraine will become a member of NATO. All participants looked forward to commencing intensive engagement with Ukraine at a high political level to address the questions still outstanding pertaining to its Membership Action Plan (MAP) application.
As NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, put it: “Yesterday’s decision of the Allies was not a stand-alone event. It was the launch of a process”.
President Yushchenko welcomed this decision and thanked all the Allies. “NAC gave a clear signal on future relations of Ukraine with NATO,” he said.
In a joint statement issued by the NUC leaders, Allies also welcomed Ukraine’s progress to reform the defence and security sectors and highly praised the substantial contribution to all NATO-led operations and missions.
