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2 December 1998
For immediate release
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On November 27, in Brussels the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Mr. V. Horbulin presented Ukraine’s State Program of Cooperation with NATO. The presentation took place at the joint meeting of the Ukrainian Inter-agency State Commission on Cooperation with NATO and the Political Committee of the Alliance.
The State Program was prepared on the basis of the Constitution of Ukraine and in development of relevant provisions of the Major Objectives of the Foreign Policy of Ukraine, the Military Doctrine of Ukraine, and the Concept of National Security of Ukraine that were adopted by the parliament of Ukraine. The Program is prepared for the period of time until year 2001, and it envisages cooperation in the political, military, military-technical, economic, and ecological areas.
The Program is a component part of a concrete mechanism for the implementation of the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership between Ukraine and NATO. Provisions, ideas and spirit of the State Program of Cooperation with NATO by the year 2001 are not aimed against any other state.
In his presentation Mr. Horbulin highlighted the major goals of the Program. They are as follows:
- to achieve all the goals instituted in the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership between Ukraine and NATO by the year 2000;
- to deepen cooperation in the framework of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Ukraine-NATO Commission, and Partnership for Peace Program with a view to elevate it to the level of special partnership between Ukraine and NATO;
- to achieve established by Ukraine targets as regards the compatibility in the framework of the Planning and Review Process;
- to facilitate establishment of close ties between the ministries and other central agencies involved in the implementation of the Charter and relevant bodies of NATO;
- to establish an operating mechanism for providing information on the cooperation with NATO.
As of today, 20 state ministries and agencies are directly involved in the cooperation with NATO. The State Program provides for establishment of direct contacts between specific ministries and agencies of Ukraine and relevant structural units of NATO, as well as for the formalization of their relations in the specific areas of cooperation. Development of such format of relations is warranted by the successful experience in institutionalizing relations between Ukraine’s Ministry on Emergency Situation and NATO Directorate on Emergency Situation Planning, which on December 20, 1997 signed the Memorandum on Mutual Understanding in the Areas of Planning in Emergency Situations of Civilian Character and Preparedness for Disasters.
The President of Ukraine and the National Security and Defense Council, as well as the Inter-agency State Commission on Cooperation with NATO, which derives authority from them, provide general oversight and control over the activities of the executive bodies directed at the implementation of the Program, achievement of compatibility with the Planning and Review Process, and realization of other measures in the framework of cooperation with NATO. Logistical support to the Inter-agency State Commission is provided by the apparatus of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
The Program serves as a basis for the preparation of a yearly work plan on the implementation of the Charter and the Individual Program of Partnership. It is also a mechanism for their full and adequate completion. The ministries and other central agencies of Ukraine have already started implementation of the Program provisions, in particular by preparing a work plan on the implementation of the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership Between Ukraine and NATO for 1999.
Members of the NATO Political Committee highly assessed the elaboration and adoption of the State Program of Cooperation between Ukraine and NATO as an absolutely new and unique occurrence not only for the post-Soviet countries, but for all the participants in the Partnership for Peace Program. According to the members of NATO, the Program may serve as a pilot model for other states that aspire to deepen their relations and cooperation with the Alliance.
During the meeting, the issues of further development of special cooperation between Ukraine and NATO were also discussed.
The members of the Ukrainian delegation met with high officers of the Alliance, and with the members of the North Atlantic Council.
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