In Kyiv, Sen. McConnell praises Kuchma, but warns that much remains to be done (08/24/97)

In Kyiv, Sen. McConnell praises Kuchma, but warns that much remains to be done

by Khristina Lew
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell praised President Leonid Kuchma's efforts to combat corruption in Ukraine during a recent visit here, but warned that there is still much work to be done. The senator, who is chairman of the Senate subcommittee that has yearly earmarked over $200 million in aid to Ukraine since 1996, visited Crimea and the Ukrainian capital on August 14-15.

"The government is making significant progress. I commend the president for the steps he has taken, but I think he understands that not only in the area of fighting corruption but also in privatization efforts there is still much to be done," the Republican senator from Kentucky said in Kyiv on August 15.

Sen. McConnell said that meetings with the vacationing President Kuchma on August 14 in Sevastopol and Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko the following day in Kyiv focused on Ukraine's progress in domestic economic reform. "I believe the president and the prime minister know what to do, and I'm optimistic that they will lead the country in the direction it needs to take," he said.

While in Sevastopol, the senator, who chairs the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also met with Volodymyr Horbulin, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, and toured the Black Sea Fleet.

The newly confirmed Mr. Pustovoitenko told the news agency Interfax-Ukraine that he assured Sen. McConnell during their meeting that the new Ukrainian government would stay the course of economic reforms set by President Kuchma. He said that a priority of the government is to develop trade and economic relations with the United States, and emphasized that it is his intention to "remove from the agenda in the future the question of corruption within the Ukrainian government and executive bodies of power."

The prime minister and senator also discussed plans to close the Chornobyl nuclear power plant by the year 2000, and the U.S. government's involvement in securing the sarcophagus protecting the damaged reactor No. 4 at the station.

Sen. McConnell also participated in the August 15 signing ceremony of two grant agreements between the Ukrainian Ministry of the Coal Industry and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Aimed at promoting Ukraine's energy self-sufficiency, the agreements will fund feasibility studies on slurry pond coal recovery and coalbed methane production. They were signed by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Green Miller and Vice Minister of the Coal Industry Yaroslav Pidhainyi.

Andrew Bihun, commercial attaché at the U.S. Embassy, noted that after the performance of the feasibility studies, total U.S. investment and equipment in the secondary fuel source projects could total $200 billion to $250 million. Funding for the slurry pond coal recovery feasibility study is $375,000; funding for the coalbed methane production feasibility study is $600,000.

Sen. McConnell emphasized that the two projects are good for Ukraine not only in terms of producing energy but also in cleaning up the environment.

Vice Minister Pidhainyi pointed out that the two agreements are in accordance with Ukraine's National Energy Program, which by the year 2010 envisions that alternative energy sources will account for 10 percent of Ukraine's energy supply.

Following the signing ceremony, Sen. McConnell had a luncheon meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hennadii Udovenko.

| Home Page |