Vice-President Gore meets with ethnic community leaders (05/14/00)

Vice-President Gore meets with ethnic community leaders

Ukrainian Congress Committee of America

NEW YORK - Vice President Al Gore met with ethnic community leaders on April 25 at the Sheraton Hotel in midtown Manhattan. In an effort to encourage open dialogue with the various communities, the director of ethnic outreach for the Democratic National Committee had organized an informal meeting between the vice-president and 12 U.S. ethnic groups.

Representing the Ukrainian American community were Askold Lozynskyj, President of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, and Tamara Gallo, director of the UCCA's National Office.

The vice-president allotted time for each community to present its views, opinions and concerns by circling the room and speaking directly with each group's representatives.

Following the initial introductions, the UCCA representatives congratulated Mr. Gore for his important role in the U.S.-Ukraine Binational Commission. Understanding the brevity of the meeting, the UCCA prepared and presented to the vice-president a memorandum outlining a series of issues that concern the Ukrainian American community, including an increase in foreign assistance to Ukraine, granting Ukraine permanent normal trade relations (NTR) status, further expansion of NATO and U.S. support for the Shelter Implementation Plan for the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

During the discussion that ensued, several questions were addressed to Mr. Gore. When asked if he has witnessed positive reforms in Ukraine since he last participated in meeting of the Binational Commission (better known as the Kuchma-Gore Commission) in December, Vice-President Gore responded that he believes Ukraine has made progress on reforms but added that he is looking for more substance.

Additionally, he stated the administration is a "big fan" of Ukraine's Prime Minister Victor Yuschenko and hopes that the new government will continue implementing democratic and free-market economic reforms.

The UCCA president asked Mr. Gore to explain his views of Ukraine in light of Russia's recent presidential elections, and Mr. Gore responded that he was happy that Russian President Vladimir Putin had scheduled Ukraine as one of his first official visits after taking office.

Following his individual meetings with community leaders, the vice-president thanked everyone for attending and underlined the importance of continued communication between his office and ethnic communities.

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