Ukraine demonstrates a desire to further deepen cooperation with NATO, despite a temporary withdrawal of the question of membership in NATO from the agenda, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Jean Francois Bureau said in Kyiv on Friday. The NATO official arrived in Ukraine to participate in a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Workgroup for Science and Environmental Protection, UKRINFORM reported.
According to Jean Francois Bureau, recent presidential elections in Ukraine enabled to reconsider the purpose and scope of cooperation with NATO. However, he says, if NATO understands its Ukrainian colleagues, Ukraine demonstrates a desire to maintain the level of cooperation that existed before and exists today. This is also evidenced by the fact that a few days ago the Annual National Program Ukraine-NATO was adopted, he emphasized. The official also said that under this program about 300 events are planned for 2010, among them - military doctrine and defense reform.
The NATO Assistant Secretary General underlined that the importance of rapprochement with the Alliance must be understood not only by the government, but also the Ukrainian people. In particular, he said, it is necessary to realize that cooperation with NATO is "logical" in the context of further development of Ukraine, which sees itself a future member of the European community". J.F. Bureau recalled that out of 28 NATO members 21 are also members of the EU.
Among the priority areas of cooperation he called the reform the Armed Forces of Ukraine, first of all, military modernization, and better training of personnel. In addition, NATO's future plans focus on environmental projects, among them - recycling of residual propellants, the volume of which in Ukraine is more than 20,000 tons. According to the NATO official, the Alliance will also not stand aside in overcoming the effects of floods this year in the western regions of Ukraine.
