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29 June 1998
For immediate release
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UKRAINIAN AND POLISH PRESIDENTS MEET IN KHARKIV
On June 26, President Leonid Kuchma and Polish President Aleksandr Kwasniewski held their fourth working meeting this year. During their stay in the city and the region of Kharkiv, the leaders of the two nations made a tour of industrial facilities, including the Malyshev Works and the Kharkiv Aviation Plant. They also visited the agricultural joint-stock company "Slobozhansky," in the Chuguiv District, to see Ukraine's biggest facility for raising pigs. The facility is capable of producing enough pork to feed entire Eastern Ukraine. The two presidents attended a ceremony that unveiled the new grain combine harvester "Bison," jointly made by Ukrainian and Polish manufacturers. Their visit to the Kharkiv Aviation Plant was aimed at promoting the Ukrainian-Polish cooperation in aircraft building and assessing the opportunities for marketing Ukrainian planes in Poland. For this purpose, series of meetings were scheduled with Ukrainian and Polish business executives. The Polish-Ukrainian Summit's salient point was a ceremony to lay the foundation of a monument to victims of totalitarianism in Kharkiv, the city where several thousands of Polish internees, as well as two thousand Ukrainians, were massacred by the Stalin’s regime. A special train carried about 400 relatives of the Polish victims to Kharkiv to attend the ceremony. The two presidents met with the students and faculty of the Yaroslav the Wise National Institute of Law in Kharkiv.
POLISH PRESIDENT: SUCCESS OF UKRAINE'S ECONOMIC REFORMS WILL STRENGTHEN EUROPE
In Kharkiv Poland's President Alexander Kwasniewski said that the success of Ukraine's economic reforms would strengthen Europe. He made the statement while addressing the students and faculty members of the National Institute of Law. In Mr. Kwasniewski’s words, an independent and sovereign Ukraine is one of the key factors of stability in Europe. He called towards the integration of Ukrainian and Polish people.
On June 27, Mr. Kwasniewski made clear that Poland will not automatically close its borders with Ukraine upon joining the European Union. Mr. Kwasniewski said he would seek a solution that will both meet European Union conditions and be favorable to Ukrainian-Polish cooperation. Ukraine's President Kuchma told journalists that the issue will not be as critical as it seems today. Mr. Kwasniewski welcomed the development of cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union and stressed Poland’s support for Ukraine's bid for membership of the World Trade Organization. Mr. Kuchma expressed the hope that the European Union will consider Ukraine's bid for associate membership in the union.
PRESIDENTS KUCHMA AND KWASNIEWSKI PROMISE SUPPORT FOR BUSINESS COMMUNITIES
On June 26, presidents Leonid Kuchma and Alexander Kwasniewski promised their support for the two nations' business communities. Addressing a Ukrainian-Polish business seminar in Kharkiv, President Kuchma said that Ukraine and Poland are still at the initial stages of their cooperation, regardless of several successful project implementations. Mr. Kwasniewski underlined that the two leaders face the task of assisting the development of cooperation not only among enterprises but between the two countries as well. According to him, Poland's economic presence in Ukraine has not only economic implications, but political and moral as well. He called for closer ties between the two countries and urged international financial institutions to support Ukraine's reform efforts. A lot has been done in the past two years to develop mutual understanding between the two countries," the two leaders agreed; while stressing that they look with optimism into the future. Members of the two nations’ business communities made several proposals on development of business cooperation. According to one of the suggestions, Kharkiv could be turned into a pilot zone for creating joint enterprises to produce consumer goods.
PRESIDENTS KUCHMA AND KWASNIEWSKI ATTEND CEREMONY AT UKRAINIAN-POLISH CEMETERY IN KHARKIV
Presidents Leonid Kuchma and Alexander Kwasniewski have laid the foundation stone for a memorial to the victims of totalitarianism. The memorial will be erected at the site where about 4,500 interned Polish soldiers were killed in 1940. About 400 close relatives of the victims and Polish public activists and government officials arrived from Poland on June 27 to attend the ceremony. On the eve of the ceremony, the two leaders laid a wreath at the Memorial of Glory.
POLISH PRESIDENT ON UKRAINE'S ADVANCED AN-74 PLANE
Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski referred to the AN-74, plane made by the Kharkiv Aviation Plant, as an interesting proposition to the likely partners in Europe and elsewhere. Mr. Kwasniewski's remark was made during his familiarization visit to the Kharkiv aircraft manufacturer together with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. The Polish leader stated his very high opinion about the advanced plane. However, Polish aviation experts will have a final say in making a decision to buy AN-74s from Ukraine, Mr. Kwasniewski said.
POLAND'S PRESIDENT BECOMES FIRST FOREIGN PRESIDENT TO VISIT KHARKIV TANK FACTORY
On June 27, at a a press conference in Kharkiv, President Alexander Kwasniewski told that he has become the first foreign president to visit the Kharkiv tank factory, the largest in the CIS. According to the Polish leader, this shows the level of trust Ukrainians have in him and a sign of the strengthening relations between the two countries and the increasing integration of their economies.
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