16 September 2015, 18:11
On September 8-9, 2015, Verkhovna Rada deputies Svitlana Zalischuk, Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska, Oleksii Riabchyn, Oleksii Skrypnyk, paid their official visit to London at the invitation of the head of the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
The Ukrainian parliamentarians-members of the deputy group of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for interparliamentary relations with Britain had meetings with representatives of the office of the prime minister and the ministry of defense, with Minister of State for Europe David Lidington, as well as with British parliamentarians, in particular, inter-party group for Ukraine's affairs and its head Gerald Howard. Besides, the Ukrainian parliamentarians met with representatives of the Ukrainian community of Britain at the Embassy of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian delegation arrived in London to discuss ways to deepen the bilateral interparliamentary cooperation, in particular, in the context of joint counteraction to Russian aggression and assistance in reformation of Ukraine. The status of implementation of the Minsk agreements and introduction of the constitutional reform in Ukraine were the key issues at the bilateral meetings.
Commenting on the results of the implementation of its part of the Minsk agreements by Ukraine and ways to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine in an interview to BBC, co-chairperson of the deputy group for interparliamentary relations with Britain, Svitlana Zalischuk, pointed out the importance of clear signals from the West as to the Ukraine's NATO and EU membership prospects.
At the meetings, British parliamentarians announced their position as to the retention of sanctions against Russia and issues of world community's long-term strategy to stop Russia's aggression.
The Ukrainian parliamentarians expressed their deep gratitude for Britain's contribution to the process of training of the Ukrainian military men, who counteract the aggression in Donbas. They also called for deepening of the program for cooperation in this field.
The Parties also discussed the most important aspects of reformation in policy and economy of Ukraine, deoligarchisation of the system of state government. Particular attention was paid to the process of creation of institutional measures to combat corruption in Ukraine.