Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, declares that Ukraine will remain a Reliable Partner of NATO, strictly observing the Principles of Consistency and Predictability of its Foreign Policy
On Wednesday, V.Lytvyn opened the
sitting of Ukraine-NATO Inter-Parliamentary Council in Kyiv. He declared that
as a large European State, Ukraine shall not keep aside the
cooperation in the Euro-Atlantic dimension, especially in the development of
new architecture of European security.
"Today, when the relations between Ukraine and NATO are free from superfluous politicization, we can focus on the consistent implementation of the agreements, using the whole range of tools of relations between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization determined by the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership and the Declaration to Complement the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership", the Head of the Parliament stated. "I declare that Ukraine will remain a reliable partner of NATO, strictly observing the principles of consistency and predictability of its foreign policy."
V.Lytvyn stated that cooperation with NATO was an important tool for making Ukraine as a powerful, democratic and economically developed State. He declared: "The annual national program of our cooperation for 2010 and the implementation action plan recently adopted by the Government can be called a specific ‘road map´ for development of such society and country."
According to the Head of the Parliament, expediency of cooperation between Ukraine and NATO is confirmed by the cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in such non-military sectors as settlement of political, economic and resource issues to satisfy urgent needs of state development, reforms of defence and security sectors, corruption fighting, enhancement of cooperation in education and science. "It is also important to mention the high level of trust and mutual assistance between Ukraine and NATO in the overcoming of consequences of natural calamities and anthropogenic disasters in Ukraine and other Euro-Atlantic countries", he stated.
V.Lytvyn stressed that as a significant contributor of international efforts in the overcoming of global security challenges, Ukraine proved itself a reliable partner of NATO. Moreover, Ukraine is the only NATO partner state that participates in all key current peacemaking operations of this organization.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine announced that considering the public opinion, the President of Ukraine supplemented the bill on the fundamentals of domestic and foreign policy with the concept of ‘non-aligned status of the state´, which presupposes non-involvement in any military-political unions and meaningful cooperation with NATO and other blocs on the issues of mutual concern. "Although I understand the arguments of the President of Ukraine and other Ukrainian politicians who rely on the voters´ opinion, I do not support the legislative consolidation of the non-aligned status of Ukraine", he stated. "In my opinion, Ukraine had better take a closer look at the policy and practical actions in the sector of security and defence pursued by six neutral states in the framework of the European Union." V.Lytvyn supposes that this position "would conform to the geopolitical logic of XXI century devoid of the confrontation of blocs, complying with the general political course towards European integration of Ukraine."
V.Lytvyn stated that parliaments and
governments of other countries supported democratic and substantial economic
reforms. "Transparency and predictability of
Ukrainian authorities pave the way for pragmatic cooperation between our key
foreign partners, including the parliamentary dimension", he stated.
The Head of the Parliament drew attention to the importance of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the development of cooperation with NATO. "Even brief survey of the action plan on implementation of the Ukraine-NATO annual national program impresses by the objectives facing the Ukrainian Parliament to provide legislative support of cooperation. I will make a point: these objectives are not merely of bilateral cooperation character, but of national significance", V.Lytvyn stated.
Having adopted the Law "On admission of foreign military elements to the territory of Ukraine in 2008 for participation in multinational exercise", The Verkhovna Rada made the first parliamentary step towards determination and implementation of priority tasks.
Summing up, V.Lytvyn stated that NATO "reviews its place and role in the global world order of XXI century, and determines new approaches in the development of a new Strategic Concept of the organization." "Ukraine has launched optimization of domestic and foreign policy. I am convinced that discussions to be held in The Verkhovna Rada will tackle the security challenges facing the international community, foster mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation between Ukraine and NATO", the Head of the Parliament stated.