|
09.07.2007
On July 9, 2007, NATO and Ukraine are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership. The Charter was signed by Allied and Ukrainian leaders at a summit meeting in Madrid in July 1997. It identified areas for consultation and cooperation, and established the NATO-Ukraine Commission to take work forward. Since then, the relationship has developed progressively and a pattern of dialogue and cooperation has become well-established in a wide range of areas. In particular, Ukraine has proved to be an important contributor to Euro-Atlantic security in the framework of NATO-led operations. The distinctive partnership with NATO constitutes an important element of Ukraine’s foreign policy. Ukraine considers the progressive qualitative development of relations with the Alliance to be not only a matter of practical importance. It is an integral part both of Ukrainian national security and stability throughout the Euro-Atlantic area. Ukraine is highly interested in deepening Ukraine-NATO partnership and in further enhancement of the substance and character of our contacts. Ukraine is resolutely determined to develop further its partnership with NATO as long as it meets national security interests and the interests of all European security. It proves the consistency of Ukraine’s foreign policy, in which the European choice remains unchanged. The strategic foreign policy course for integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures is Ukraine’s natural choice that flows out from the historical, cultural and geopolitical realities of Ukraine's development. This is a wish to promote common democratic values, to introduce good management and high technologies, to build prosperity, to return to the environment, which we for centuries had been deprived of. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union Ukraine reached out for NATO and European Union as the two organizations, which best symbolized security and prosperity on the continent. The first contacts with NATO and EU were established back in 1991-92. Ukraine joined PfP and signed the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU in 1994, thus beginning to formulate a coherent integration policy towards Europe. The relations of Ukraine with NATO have been evolving with increasing intensity, expanding onto the new levels and fields of cooperation. The year 1997 was marked by three memorable events: signing at the NATO-Ukraine summit in Madrid of the Charter on a distinctive partnership in July; establishment of the NATO Information and Documentation Centre in Kyiv in May - first ever in the history of the Alliance; and opening among the first partner nations of Ukraine's Mission to NATO in October. We consider also as positive sign of Ukraine-NATO partnership and very helpful from the practical cooperation point of view - the establishment on NATO Liaison Office in Kyiv in 1999. The Ukraine-NATO Charter, which is based on common
principles shared by Ukraine and NATO and designed to contribute
to further strengthening cooperation and effective partnership,
remains a unique instrument for enhancing our political dialogue
with the Alliance. The Charter: At present the two key priorities for Ukraine are membership in the European Union and enhancing of distinctive cooperation with NATO. They go hand-in-hand and are inseparable components of our consolidated Euro-Atlantic policy. European Union has become the synonym of prosperity and powerful economic development, NATO is a symbol of security and stability. Both organizations share the same democratic values to which Ukraine fully subscribes. The Ukraine-NATO Charter remains a unique instrument for enhancing our political dialogue with the Alliance. It introduced NATO-Ukraine Commission - a permanent mechanism that allowed for a trustful discussion of the issues of European security and bilateral practical cooperation. Five levels of NUC meetings - in Ambassadorial, Chief-of-Staff, Foreign and Defense Ministers sessions and the NUC summit in Washington - ensure a comprehensive coverage of the Ukraine-NATO agenda. Charter has opened new avenues for further dynamic development of cooperation between Ukraine and the Alliance in many areas ranging from defense reform and inter-operability of the Armed Forces to handling ecological emergencies and economic workshops. Civil emergency planning, science and technologies, armaments, defense-related economic issues, ecological aspects of security, information are very promising and already fruit-bearing areas of this cooperation. Reliable mechanisms have been created for further implementation of the provisions of the Charter: 1. Ukraine has adopted a new National Programme of Co-operation with NATO for the years 2001-2004 to ensure concerted efforts of governmental bodies in Ukraine aimed at enhancing our co-operation with the Alliance. 2. The President of Ukraine by his Decree of 25 January 2001 approved establishment of institution of National Coordinators of Cooperation of Ukraine with NATO. National coordinators of cooperation of Ukraine with NATO are special representatives of the ministries, other central bodies of the executive power of Ukraine, which carry out activities of cooperation of Ukraine with NATO. The activity of national coordinators is aimed at assisting the State Interagency Commission on cooperation between Ukraine and NATO in discharging its tasks in respective spheres of cooperation with the Alliance, defined by the Charter on Distinctive Partnership of Ukraine with NATO and by the State Programme of Cooperation of Ukraine with NATO. There are 11 National Coordinators: on military-political cooperation and military reform; on armaments; on economic issues; on civil emergency situations; on prevention of international terrorism, illegal movement of weapons, double purpose technologies, radioactive matters; on prevention of international organised crime, drug trafficking and transborder illegal migration; on science and technologies; on environmental issues; on defense research and technologies; on tele-communications and information systems; on standards and metrology; on transport and airspace management; on information; on reform of the forces of internal security. The ratification of the Status of Forces Agreement by the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine, which was voted on March 2, 2000, while the Ukraine-NATO Commission held its first ever meeting in Kyiv, has opened the door to a qualitative improvement of our cooperation in PfP. It allows for greater opportunities to hold exercises on Ukrainian territory, including at the PfP Training Centre at Yavoriv. Ukraine attaches prime importance to cooperation in the areas, oriented towards achievement of concrete practical results from the prospective of the most essential national interests of Ukraine, in particular in the fields of military-technical cooperation, armaments and standardization, economic and environmental aspects of defense-related activities, science and technologies, civil emergency planning and others. Ukraine attaches special attention to our cooperation in strengthening security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area, in particular through interaction within NATO-led PFP operations, enhancement of interoperability between the units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and those of NATO, developing common approaches to the ways of strengthening regional security and the prospects of developing the Euro-Atlantic security system, including the role of EAPC/PFP. The value of our cooperation within IFOR/SFOR/KFOR in this respect can not be overestimated. Ukraine relies on coordinated efforts to support our participation in development and realization of European common foreign and security policy. We believe that our state as a real contributor to European and international security has to be broader involved in this process as well as fostering European security and defense identity within NATO, strengthening European pillar in the overall Euro-Atlantic security environment. We have to use fully the potential of the institutional framework of Ukraine-NATO cooperation, which includes regular meetings of Ukraine-NATO Commission at the Ambassadorial, Ministerial and Summit level, ongoing dialogue between the State Interagency Commission on cooperation with NATO and the Alliance’s North Atlantic Council and the Political Committee, Crisis Consultative Mechanism, Joint Working Group on Defense Reform, Joint Group on civil emergency planning, Working Groups on economic security and on retraining of retired military personnel, NATO Liaison Office to Ukraine and NATO Information and Documentation Center (IDC) in Kyiv, NATO Contact Embassy in Ukraine, Yavoriv PFP Training Center. We place special emphasis on strengthening parliamentary, non-governmental and informational dimensions of our cooperation, in particular through developing the mechanisms of maximum comprehensive and regular delivery to the Ukrainian public of objective information on the Alliance’s activities aimed at strengthening Euro-Atlantic security, processes of the Alliance’s transformation into an all-European security structure and its adaptation to the new security environment. Speaking about NATO-Ukraine cooperation it is necessary to mention a Ukraine-NATO cooperation in peacekeeping. The role of NATO-Ukraine partnership is most vividly manifested in its contribution into bringing peace to Kosovo. The security environment in Kosovo remains a major concern for Ukraine. While regarding as a major achievement of Ukraine-NATO distinctive partnerships our successful cooperation in Kosovo within KFOR, we should continue our consultations in different formats and at different levels on current status and prospects of conflict settlement in Kosovo. Embassy of Ukraine
|
||