BRAMA, Jun 12, 2003, 1:00 pm ET
Press Release
Meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission
in Defence Ministers Session
Opening remarks by NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson
Good afternoon and welcome to this ministerial
meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission in Defence Ministers’ session.
NATO-Ukraine relations are high on NATO’s strategic agenda. Only
a month ago, we had informal consultations with Ukraine at ministerial
level in Washington. That event was one in a series where we regularly
meet with Ukraine to discuss the future course of our distinctive partnership.
Last year NATO and Ukraine agreed to an ambitious NATO-Ukraine Action
Plan and Ukraine set out – in consultation with the NATO Allies
– clear objectives in an Annual Target Plan. The main focus of our
work today will be to assess the progress made so far in implementing
the defence and security sector reform aspects of the Plan.
A key aspect of this will be to take stock of progress on Ukraine's fundamental
Defence Review. As a former Defence Minister myself I know how difficult
it is to conduct such a review and indeed how painful the military, financial
and social implications can be. Other Ministers have gone through the
same process. You therefore have our full support, Volodymyr, as you drive
this work forward. I cannot overemphasize the importance of making the
tough decisions to produce a realistic and balanced programme.
Defence and security sector reforms are the fundamental prerequisite
for the ambitious task of full Euro-Atlantic integration which Ukraine
has set itself.
At the same time, Ukraine has continued to be active in supporting international
peace, maintaining its forces in the Balkans and also deploying an NBC-defence
unit to assist Kuwaiti authorities in providing protection for the civil
population. Ukraine is also going to contribute to the post-conflict stabilisation
of Iraq. NATO welcomes all these important decisions.
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