Torricelli urges increase in aid to Ukraine

WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert G. Torricelli on April 16 urged the Clinton administration to increase foreign aid to Ukraine. His action came in response to a recent report that per capita aid to Ukraine is lagging behind that of other newly independent states.

In a letter to Richard Morningstar, special assistant to the president and the secretary of state on assistance to the newly independent states, Sen. Torricelli (D-N.J.) noted that, "in per capita terms, aid to Ukraine ranks ninth out of the 13 independent states. In addition, the administration has refrained from spending almost 27 percent of the funds which have been appropriated" to Ukraine.

Sen. Torricelli has made efforts within Congress to ensure that more of the appropriated funds will actually be made available for critical humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. Last year Sen. Torricelli worked with other members of Congress to support a specific earmark for Ukrainian assistance.

He wrote that the administration had been "extremely supportive" of reform in Ukraine, and registered his surprise and disappointment that the administration's support had not translated into greater humanitarian aid for the nation.

He expressed a desire to work with the Clinton administration to ensure that Ukraine will receive a more proportionate share of international aid in the future. "I look forward to further cooperation between Congress and the Clinton administration on this issue," Sen. Torricelli wrote in this letter to Ambassador Morningstar.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 20, 1997, No. 16, Vol. LXV

| Home Page |