FOR THE RECORD: Horbulin's independence anniversary address (09/29/96)

FOR THE RECORD: Horbulin's independence anniversary address

Following are excerpts of the address delivered on September 18 by Volodymyr Horbulin, secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine, at the Capitol Hill reception commemorating the fifth anniversary of Ukraine's independence.

Today I have the honor of representing Ukraine in the U.S. Congress, a state reborn only five years ago, on August 24, 1991. The proclamation of independence brought to life the age-old yearning of our ancestors to be the masters of their own land, the creators of their destiny. ...

In the just words of Thomas Paine, stated shortly after the United States won its independence, "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must undergo the fatigue of supporting it." We Ukrainians in our own experience had a chance to fully appreciate the wisdom of this maxim.

The first five years of our existence were characterized by the consolidation of the Ukrainian state, and the formation of a reliable basis for reforming all spheres of life.

The self-determination of the Ukrainian people was most clearly evidenced by the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine last June. Thus, we have shown to ourselves and the whole world our ability to pursue balanced, far-sighted and consistent policies.

The Constitution has provided to Ukrainian society and the entire world a clear and comprehensive answer to the question of where we are going: towards a sovereign and independent, democratic, socially oriented, law-governing state, where an individual and his or her life and health, dignity, immunity and security, are recognized as the highest social value.

As Ukraine's statehood is a reality today, we have a chance to prioritize our further policies in the following order: person, family, society, state.

Much attention is paid to shaping the political system of our country and forming a civil society. For that reason, the president of Ukraine attaches personal importance to the drafting of new laws on elections, and legal regulation of the activities of political parties, trade unions, and other public and political organizations.

An undoubted gain of the Ukrainian nation is liberty of conscience, and restoration of the Church and religion's proper place in society. This becomes especially evident if we compare the current situation with decades of state atheism. For instance, the number of clergymen has increased by 5,000 persons since 1991 now totaling 18,000. The spectrum of religions has expanded from 37 to 65 confessions and sects. About 3,000 houses of worship and 8,000 religious artifacts have been returned to religious groups and institutions. To date, 1,165 churches have been built and 1,868 are under construction.

It should be pointed out that we have determined strategic approaches to reforms in the societal sphere in general - in the first place culture, education, science and health care. The role in the country's life of these basic values of statehood, social consciousness and national security requires a comprehensive national system of humanitarian policy, which should be determined not on the basis of existing social and economic realities, but rather on the future prospects and goals of our development.

Ukraine is a state with a multi-ethnic population consisting of more than 100 nationalities. And we are proud that since gaining our independence we managed to establish a harmonious state-regulated system of interethnic processes, which is on par with international standards and which can ensure a full-fledged revival of all peoples, guarantee them universally recognized human rights and assure social peace. ...

The country has laid down the sound foundations of a market economy, which is the basis for economic stabilization and growth. It is evident that transforming the economy requires difficult and complicated work, but there is no other way out. This is understood at all levels - from state leadership to the social masses. ...

Today we have a clear economic reform strategy, determined by the president of Ukraine in 1994 soon after his election. Its principal points are: to achieve and maintain financial stability; to control inflation; to restructure, denationalize and develop the private sector of the economy; and to create favorable conditions for foreign investments.

The adoption of the new Constitution is a favorable factor in this respect, which guarantees the equality of subjects before the law and governmental protection of ownership and economic rights. It also guarantees the right to own land, and makes inviolable the right to private property and entrepreneurship. ...

There have been positive changes in the budgetary policy and budgetary discipline. There is no other way to overcome the budget crisis than to be strict, and not spend what is not allocated in the budget. And, although part of the population bears the burden, as there are delays in wages, salaries and social payments, while governmental enterprises and institutions are not adequately funded, we make this sacrifice to preserve the budget, to maintain financial stability, and thus to support conditions for normal economic processes.

At the moment we have already had concrete achievements in financial stabilization and the strengthening of the national monetary unit.

Strict control over the money in circulation by the government and the National Bank of Ukraine has enabled us to overcome inflation. The achievement of financial stabilization has given us a chance to start monetary reform - to introduce a full-fledged national currency. We consider its success to be a catalyst for some national fund-holders to be much more active in investing.

Priority investment spheres should be determined, for the financial resources of Ukraine are limited now. First and foremost, we take care of the primary means of production, which give finished products, satiate domestic demand, have significant export potential and contribute to the employment of people. Such sectors, in particular, are light manufacturing, machine-building, engineering, metallurgy, and the food and chemical industries. In the agrarian sector these are technologies for processing and storing agricultural produce. This sector is especially promising for us, for about 40 percent of the world's black soil is concentrated in Ukraine. ...

Small-scale privatization has been completed in Ukraine and large- and medium-scale privatization has been considerably accelerated. More than a half of all industrial production is manufactured now by the non-governmental sector.

I think it is imperative to stress this point in this respect: we could hardly be able to achieve such changes without respective assistance from other countries, including the U.S.A. Ukraine appreciates your support in the development of the banking and energy sector, environmental protection, and the training of staff required for implementing such reforms.

We count on U.S. assistance in mobilizing financial resources for decommissioning the Chornobyl nuclear plant. Ukraine cannot solve this global problem alone.

The existence of political forces, mainly of the extreme left, should also be noted as one of Ukraine's realities. Such factions try to use the complicated economic situation and they have an interest in the failure of reforms, in order to restore the former USSR with its political and economic system and foreign political orientation.

I would like to point out in this respect that five years of the establishment of independent Ukraine were at the same time the years of establishing and strengthening the national security of our state. ...

Establishment of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine in accordance with the new Constitution has proved to be an important development. We see its main function in organizing and unceasingly improving the national security system, which is able to identify in time and evaluate objectively threats to the national interests, to plan and take efficient, even military, measures adequate in response to these threats. ...

My strict time limit does not enable me to specify the hardships Ukraine had to overcome while establishing itself in the world community. However, I would like to emphasize one such concrete step, especially important for the future of the Ukrainian nation.

I am reffering to the signing of the Trilateral Statement on nuclear weapons deployed in Ukraine by the presidents of Ukraine, the U.S.A. and the Russian Federation, and, later, Ukraine's accession to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. ...

The Ukrainian state has entered the second five-year period of its existence without deadly nuclear weapons on its territory. It was the first nuclear power to voluntarily give up its nuclear arsenal - the third largest in the world. We, therefore, are confident that this step can and shall serve the world community as an example and stimulus for universal nuclear disarmament.

I would also like to remind you of our proposals to establish a nuclear-free zone as well as a zone of peace and stability in Central and Eastern Europe. We also proposed to work out confidence-building measures for security and cooperation in naval activities of the Black Sea countries.

Ukraine is active in drafting the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and completing the agreement on conventional arms in Europe.

Ukraine has become a member of the Council of Europe, acceded to the Central European initiative and actively cooperates with the IMF [International Monetary Fund], the World Bank, the EBRD [European Bank for Reconstruction and Development], and the EU [European Union], which has recognized Ukraine as a country with an economy in transition.

Ukraine's relationship with NATO has reached a qualitatively new level, one of "profound and extended" collaboration. Ukraine's vision of security risks, evaluation of their nature, and some other points are similar to NATO's to a great extent.

At the same time, we believe that gradual evolutionary enlargement of the alliance should be parallel to the development and extension of ties between NATO and Ukraine on the basis of special partnership principles. Such partnership relations would embellish the existing forms of cooperation in the framework of the NACC [North Atlantic Cooperation Council] and the Partnership for Peace. These institutions, in our opinion, can become important elements of European security.

... relations between Ukraine and Russia are of particular importance, which we consider as the most sensitive component of our national interests. One priority is to move our bilateral relationship into a stable good-neighbor partnership, and to agree finally on the division of the Black Sea Fleet, with fixed conditions and terms for basing the Russian part of the fleet on the territory of Ukraine. ...

With respect to our foreign policy, I would like to stress that the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship is of top importance. In general, we are satisfied with the present state of this relationship and are ready to extend our contact at all levels.

Nunn-Lugar Program assistance is of great importance to us. In general, this program is being implemented as planned, and Sen. Lugar witnessed it during his recent visit to our country.

The U.S. State Department has taken the decision to exclude Ukraine from the list of countries to which it is forbidden to deliver American weapons and military equipment. We hope that this decision will not be objected to by the Senate and the House of Representatives. Normalization of Ukrainian-U.S. relations in this sphere would no doubt contribute to further development of a special partnership between our countries.

We appreciate the role the U.S. Congress plays in regard to the development of Ukrainian-American relations.

In this context, I should mention that according to legislation adopted by the U.S. Congress, Ukraine received $225 million this year, and became the third largest recipient country of U.S. foreign assistance. We recognize the efforts of Sen. [Mitch] McConnell in securing Ukraine's fair share of U.S. foreign aid.

Ukrainians are very glad to learn that the leadership in Washington reaffirms the support for further development of bilateral relations between our two countries. We appreciate the positive attitude shown toward our state through bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress of House Resolution 120, which was backed by representatives of both the Democratic and Republican parties.

The House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress has practically unanimously endorsed the resolution in support of Ukraine sponsored by Congressman Benjamin Gilman ... and many other members of the House. We were pleased that Ukraine's progress in political transformations, as well as its role in reducing the global nuclear threat were highly praised. It is extremely important for us that the resolution declared support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and that it called on the U.S. president to render assistance to Ukraine in the sphere of security and support Ukraine in its efforts against USSR reanimators.

We believe that today there is an urgent need for practical implementation of the political and economic agreements reached during the state visits of the president of Ukraine to the U.S.A. in November 1994, and the U.S. president to Ukraine in May 1995, as well as the working visit to the U.S.A. of the president of Ukraine last February. ...

Ukraine stands to benefit greatly from the decisions of the U.S. administration, whom I urge to promote the further shaping of relations between our states.

We live in a complex transformation period, but we are confident in our future. I am extremely grateful to your country, for it substantially helps us to bring this future closer.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to those Americans who always regarded Ukraine as their second homeland - to those who never lost the dream of an independent Ukraine.

In this regard, I wish to extend a greeting from Leonid Kuchma, the president of Ukraine, and recall his words addressed to our kinsmen in the U.S.A.: "You considered the struggle of Ukraine for independence as the main purpose of your life, despite all hazards, material losses and threats to your lives related to this struggle. You never separated yourselves from your roots and always strove to become united with your fellow people."

God Bless America! Slava Ukraini!