Ukrainian diplomats visit UNA headquarters to initiate "working dialogue" (05/12/02)

Ukrainian diplomats visit UNA headquarters to initiate "working dialogue"

by Roma Hadzewycz

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Top representatives of Ukraine's diplomatic corps in the United States - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Valeriy P. Kuchinsky and Consul General of Ukraine in New York Serhiy Pohoreltzev - paid an unprecedented visit to the Ukrainian National Association Corporate Headquarters here on April 5, visiting the UNA Home Office as well as the editorial offices of the UNA's two newspapers, The Ukrainian Weekly and Svoboda.

Also part of the delegation of special visitors were Col. Victor Hvozd, military adviser at the Mission to the United Nations, and Danylo Lubkivsky, second secretary of the mission.

The purpose of the visit was to establish contacts with one of the leading Ukrainian organizations in the United States and two major newspapers, and through them with the Ukrainian community at large.

While at the UNA headquarters, Ukraine's diplomats also spoke at a gathering of employees of the UNA and its publications, answering questions posed on such topics as Ukraine's military and its use of the Ukrainian language, and the continuing aftereffects of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.

Ambassador Kuchinsky also spoke about the results of the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, which had just been released earlier that week, noting that these were the most democratic elections in Ukraine since the country's independence in 1991. He underscored that "democratic forces" had secured a victory in the balloting and that it was now up to them to "take advantage of the opportunity to create a democratic majority in the Parliament." The main goal right now, Mr. Kuchinsky said "is to unite after the elections."

The ambassador also spoke briefly about Ukraine at the United Nations, pointing to the significance of the fact that 1,600 Ukrainians are currently serving in 10 U.N. peacekeeping operations. He added that Ukraine is in first place among all European states contributing peacekeeping troops and in eighth place worldwide.

Consul General Pohoreltzev in his remarks emphasized the development of strong mutual contacts between the Consulate General and all of Ukraine's diplomatic missions in the United States with the Ukrainian American community, both in terms of its organizations and individuals.

As well, he spoke of the voting that took place at the Consulate General on Ukraine's parliamentary election day, March 31, reporting that Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc had the overwhelming majority of votes (68 percent) among the 447 persons casting ballots at the Consulate. In second place was the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (15.2 percent) and in third was the pro-presidential bloc, For a United Ukraine (10.5 percent). The Communist Party, he added, was least popular, receiving only three votes.

Ambassador Kuchinsky spoke also about "the need to popularize information about Ukraine among our American partners and to deepen cooperation with our [Ukrainian American] community."

To that end, he said, a Ukrainian information and cultural center should be created in New York. Though Mr. Kuchinsky said he sees such a body as a government structure, he said it would serve as a community-wide center aimed at disseminating true and objective information about Ukraine.

In the realm of cooperation with the community, the ambassador listed such goals as assisting the Ukrainian press in the United States and supporting the construction of the new building of The Ukrainian Museum in New York.

In order to achieve these and other goals, Ambassador Kuchinsky said that Ukraine's Mission to the United Nations would like to initiate "a working dialogue and an informal exchange of ideas" with the most significant Ukrainian organizations.

After a tour of the UNA offices, Ambassador Kuchinsky, Consul General Pohoreltzev, Col. Hvozd and Mr. Lubkivsky briefly visited the Parsippany office of the Selfreliance Ukrainian American Federal Credit Union, which is located on the first floor of the UNA Corporate Headquarters building.

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