"Ukraine in the World" conference to review foreign relations, 1991-1996 (12/01/96)

"Ukraine in the World" conference to review foreign relations, 1991-1996

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - As part of its broader program to study developments in Ukraine over the five years of its independence, the Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard University will hold a conference titled "Ukraine in the World" in Washington on December 12-14. The conference will be devoted to Ukraine's external relations and to issues of security over the period 1991-1996.

It is timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the national referendum on independence and the diplomatic recognition of Ukraine by the United States and other countries.

The conference is held in conjunction with the Ukrainian Program of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University, and also in cooperation with the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States. Washington was selected as the venue to allow for maximum participation by representatives of the U.S. government and its agencies, the international diplomatic community, policy analysts and the media. George Washington University is the site of the conference meetings.

The proceedings of the conference, together with additional commissioned articles, will later be published in a separate volume. Further meetings will be held in the spring of 1997 to examine Ukraine's domestic politics, the economy, society and culture.

A dinner on Thursday, December 12, at the National Press Club will feature as keynote speaker Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, currently counsellor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and former national security advisor to the president of the United States. Dr. Brzezinski is one of the country's leading experts on the former Soviet Union and its successor states. He is the initiator of the American-Ukrainian Advisory Committee, which aims to strengthen informal ties between Ukraine and the U.S., to encourage informed debate on critical issues facing Ukraine, and to provide policy recommendations to the U.S. and Ukrainian governments. Dr. Brzezinski will speak on "Ukraine's Place in the Post-Communist World Order."

The conference will comprise four major sessions. Each session will feature two Western scholars, who will provide an analytical treatment of the relevant topic, and a Ukrainian participant who will speak about the practical experience of dealing with these issues.

The first session will be devoted to "Ukraine and Its Neighbors," with papers on "Ukraine and Russia/CIS" (Dr. Roman Solchanyk, RAND Corp.) and "Ukraine and East-Central Europe" (Dr. Stephen Burant, U.S. Department of State). The Ukrainian speaker will be Borys Tarasiuk, ambassador to the Benelux and former first deputy foreign minister of Ukraine.

The second session will focus on Ukraine's relations with the East. The presentations will include "Ukraine, Turkey and the Black Sea Region" (Dr. Duygu Sezer, Bilkent University, Ankara) and "Ukraine, Israel and the Middle East" (Dr. Oles Smolansky, Lehigh University). Ukraine's ambassador to Israel, Oleksandr Maydannyk, will provide the Ukrainian perspective.

"Building Bridges to the West" is the subject of the third session. Dr. Olga Alexandrova (Federal Institute for Eastern and International Studies, Cologne) will speak on "Ukraine and Western Europe." The topic of "Ukraine and the United States" will be treated by Dr. Sherman Garnett (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and formerly acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia). The Ukrainian discussant will be Anton Buteyko, first deputy foreign minister of Ukraine.

The fourth session will concentrate on "Military Affairs and Security Issues." Dr. John Jaworsky (University of Waterloo) will address the issue of "Ukraine's Armed Forces and Military Policy." Dr. Stephen Larrabee (RAND Corp.) will discuss "Ukraine's Emerging Role in Regional and Global Security." Gen. Ihor Smeshko (director of strategic planning and analysis at the National Security Council of Ukraine and formerly military attaché at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington) will present the viewpoint from Ukraine.

The luncheon speaker on December 12 will be Volodymyr Lytvyn, who will analyze the "Domestic Imperatives of Ukraine's Foreign Policy." Invited to speak at the December 13 lunch is William Green Miller, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who will provide "An American Perspective from Kyiv on U.S.-Ukrainian Relations."

On Saturday, December 14, a roundtable on "Ukrainian-U.S. Relations" will be held at the Embassy of Ukraine. Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., Dr. Yuri Shcherbak, will open the discussion with a talk on: "The Path toward Strategic Cooperation between Ukraine and the U.S." The other participants will include representatives of the governments of Ukraine and the United States. A luncheon, hosted by Ambassador Shcherbak, will follow.

For further information on the conference, contact Dr. Lubomyr Hajda, associate director, at: Ukrainian Research Institute, 1583 Massachussetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138; telephone, (617) 495-9828 or 495-4053; fax, (617)-495-8097.