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The Secretary General of NATO, Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, visited the Estonian capital Tallinn on 12 - 13 November 2008, to chair the sixth Informal High-Level NATO-Ukraine Consultations with participation of Defence Ministers and other senior officials from Ukraine and NATO countries. The conference was co-organized by NATO and the International Centre for Defence Studies.
Participants exchanged views on the current security environment in the Euro-Atlantic area, and focused on Ukraine’s capabilities to meet existing security challenges and ability to contribute to NATO-led operations. They also took stock of Ukraine’s progress in transforming its national security structures and practices.
During the opening session of the meeting the Secretary General said: "The overall theme of our consultation is "NATO-Ukraine Relations in an Evolving Security Environment". Our meeting provides a perfect opportunity to exchange views, at a high level, about the current security environment in the Euro-Atlantic area, as well as to address Ukraine's capabilities to meet modern security challenges and contribute to NATO's operational efforts."
"A country's right to freely choose its security alignments is another important principle...and a test for the Europe that we all seek to build. It is a principle that we will not compromise", he added.
The President of the Republic of Estonia, Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, in his keynote address, said:"the fact that Ukraine is here today with NATO Ministers of Defence should convince everyone that NATO understands Ukraine's importance to European security. I can assure you that NATO remains committed to the protection of Europe's security. This is why we will never abandon democratic Ukraine - an integral pillar of the European security architecture."
For his part, Ukrainian Defence Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov stressed that the NATO-Ukraine consultations were important for two reasons, first to assess Ukraine's progress towards possible membership, and second, to allow for discussion on the level of security in today's world. "The world has become less predictable today. In connection with this, a search for an effective mechanism for stepping up security, ensuring peace and deepening cooperation are topical and important tasks," he said.
Prior to the NATO-Ukraine Consultations the Secretary General held bilateral talks in Tallinn with Estonian leadership – he met, inter alia, with President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.
Previous meetings in this format were held in Berlin (2002), Washington D.C. (2003), Warsaw (2004), Vilnius (2005) and Sintra (2006).