FOR THE RECORD: Tarasyuk addresses National Press Club (07/02/00)

FOR THE RECORD: Tarasyuk addresses National Press Club

Below is the text of an address by Borys Tarasyuk, foreign affairs minister of Ukraine, at the National Press Club of Canada in Ottawa on June 13.

It was many years ago when I first visited Canada. And I have to confess I loved your country at once - for its amazingly beautiful nature, hospitable people and the spirit of freedom. ...

This is the image of Canada: free, dynamic, full of energy and opportunities that lives in my heart and in the hearts of my fascinated compatriots who came here over a century ago. I am proud that they contributed to this image with their loyalty and hard work, accepting Canada as their second motherland.

Canada is one of the places in the world whose people know about the true history of Ukraine, where I feel at ease and at home among friends. No wonder that Canada, together with Poland, was the first state to recognize our independence on December 2, 1991, immediately after the all-Ukrainian referendum. These very warm relations between the Canadian and Ukrainian peoples embraced our political leaders who in 1994 declared a special partnership between the two countries.

The importance of Canada for Ukraine is also of a psychological nature. For centuries Ukrainians had been fighting to have their own state. They had been persecuted, murdered and subjected to famine for this idea. But love of freedom and the need for survival brought them to Canada, where they realized their dream, built their "little, prosperous and secure Ukraine" in Canada, because they could not do it neither under empires nor in the Soviet Union. They also participated in the building of the Canadian state, which is now respected worldwide as a place of democracy and prosperity. That is why Canada is not only a special partner for Ukraine, but an example of how to build a state based on democracy, rule of law and a market economy.

This is what we are doing now. The Ukraine of today is not the Ukraine of the 1930s - not even of the beginning of the 1990s. It is becoming a modern European state that builds its future through the hard work of its citizens and the clear vision of its leadership. With the "new old" President Leonid Kuchma, the reformist government of Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko and the democratized Parliament, this is the right time and there is a very good chance now to build our "big, prosperous and secure" Ukraine in our own homeland.

Dear friends,

Today the situation Ukraine is unique. We are living through the second renaissance since 1991. For the last half a year we have witnessed unprecedented changes in politics and economy. President Kuchma is fulfilling his election promises by launching administrative, agricultural and energy sector reforms, and large-scale privatization of land and enterprises. A new tax code is to be prepared by July. The new government is trusted by the people who see the first positive results. Despite the suspension of IMF loans, the economy is on the rise, GDP increased by over 6 percent, industrial output by 10 percent. Exports are growing. The national currency remains stable. The level of barter transactions is going down.

Since last February a new democratic parliamentary majority was created, which made it possible to have fruitful cooperation of all the branches of power.

Behind this dry summary are the lives of millions of Ukrainians who, gradually, are reviving their language and culture; the lives of the youngest generation, who are fortunate never to have experienced the totalitarianism of the Soviet regime.

This resumption of the national identity and breaking from stereotypes and old mentality are fully present in the foreign policy of independent Ukraine. Actually, Ukrainian diplomats were the champions in these transformations, because we are lucky to have an over 80-year-old diplomatic tradition only in this century.

I was glad to notice that the fundamentals of Ukraine's foreign policy have much in common with that of Canada. Both our countries advocate full adherence to the norms and principles of the United Nations, show respect for international law, pay significant attention to human security, pursue resolution of conflicts only by peaceful means and favor global nuclear disarmament.

These fundamentals played a crucial role for the successes of our foreign policy, for rapid integration of the country into the world community. Our record of accomplishments for just nine years is quite impressive. Starting practically from the scratch, we have established diplomatic relations with 16 states, opened 81 diplomatic missions in 62 countries and become a member of over 100 international organizations.

[Ukraine made a major contribution to global security by renouncing the world's third largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. Today we are going to contribute to human security by decommissioning the Chornobyl station by December 15, 2000, as announced by our president a week ago. We hope that the G-7 and EU will remember to fulfill their obligations as well.

Ukraine managed to preserve integrity and peace of the nation, despite the predictions of some prominent Western politicians in 1993 about its imminent split and collapse. As in Canada, there are over 100 ethnic minorities in Ukraine, and Ukraine's national legislation for the protection of their rights is recognized as exemplary by the Council of Europe.]

(Editor's note: The bracketed remarks were delivered in French.)

Promoting peace in society, Ukraine projects security outside. We have concluded basic treaties with all our neighbors, removing territorial claims, settling border issues, resolving the difficult case of the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol, negotiating confidence-building measures bilaterally and in the Black Sea area. Our strategic partnership with Poland plays a stabilizing role in Central and Eastern Europe and by a meaning for the region similar to that of the French-German partnership for Western Europe. We are conscious that friendly relations between Ukraine and Russia are important for overall European stability. Therefore, Presidents Kuchma and [Vladimir] Putin agreed to follow a pragmatic policy, trying to give real substance to our strategic partnership.

Using the wording of NATO and EU officials, Ukraine plays a key role for European security and stability. The consistent and balanced foreign policy of Ukraine makes us a natural mediator in conflicts and an active participant in peacekeeping. Together with Canadians we were in SFOR. Ukrainian military and civilians served in U.N. and OSCE missions in Croatia, Bosnia, Tajikistan, Angola, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, Transdnistria. Responding to appeals of the United Nations we are now sending our contingents to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Lebanon. Ukraine was the first to come to Kosovo on the third day of the airstrikes and to propose a peace plan that later became the basis of U.N. Resolution 1244. Today 250 military troops and 30 civilian policemen serve in Kosovo. In July we plan to send part of the Ukrainian-Polish battalion and a special police unit of 110 men there.

Ukraine is an acknowledged regional leader, being a strategic link between Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and between the north and south of Europe. On the initiative of President Kuchma the Baltic-Black Sea summit was held in Yalta last September [under the slogan] "Towards Europe of the 21st Century Without Diving Lines," and the summit of Central European states was held in Lviv in May 1999. Ukraine is a founder of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization and of the so-called GUUAM forum uniting Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova. We are a participant of TRACECA and depository of INOGATE. We are contributing to the democratization and Europeanization of the Balkans, taking part in the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe.

Ukraine's distinctive partnership with NATO and its cooperation within the strategic triangles of Ukraine-Poland-Canada and Ukraine-Poland-United States ensure our strong trans-Atlantic link with the American continent.

Taking into account these enumerated accomplishments, it was logical that Ukraine was elected to the U.N. Security Council. We are proud to have Canada as our special partner on the council. We share many views and face similar challenges there. We both seek a strengthening of the role of the Security Council as a primary body responsible for international peace and security, its reform and the increasing the role of non-permanent members. We enjoy good cooperation with Canada in resolving conflicts on the African continent. Our countries support review of the international sanctions policy. We had a fruitful discussion of these issues with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien yesterday.

Mr. Chairman,

In this brief address I have tried to show you a different Ukraine from the one you may have known about from history books or occasional news articles. A Ukraine that has its achievements and its problems, being at a critical point of its internal development. A Ukraine that has made its conscious and irreversible choice of integration into the European structures and Euro-Atlantic partnership, which is welcomed and supported by the European Union and NATO. A week ago unequivocal support of Ukraine's progress in reforms and its return to Europe was expressed by President Bill Clinton during his visit to Kyiv. We feel and highly value the constant support of the Canadian government.

Distinguished media representatives,

I may hope that after our meeting there will be many interesting and knowledgeable articles about Ukraine. I tried to show you that there is a lot to write about. I also wanted to show you this yearslong historical, political and psychological link between our nations that our leaders feel, support and enrich.

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