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Ukraine's strategic European choice will not change
Interview of the Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych to the Polish newspaper "Dzennik"
06.09.2006
How important are the relations with Poland for you?
Viktor Yanukovych: Relations with Poland have always been important for Ukraine. We are geographic neighbors. Our trade cooperation, political and cultural ties, and also similar views on the European processes, involving Poland and sought by Ukraine – all this confirms that strategic partnership with Poland is a priority for us. Take a look at statistics: Poland is our major economic partner in the Central Europe. In turn, Ukraine is the second largest export market for Poland. In 1998-2005, trade between the two countries increased almost threefold.
Unfortunately, last year the Ukrainian export considerably shrank. I hope that situation will normalize in the nearest future. Poland is also an important investor for Ukraine. There are many companies with Polish capital working in Ukraine, and we want to see more of them in Ukraine. The Ukrainian companies also enter the Polish market. The concrete example of this was the purchase of the plant "Huta Częstochowa" by the "Industrial Union of Donbas", and also the purchase of the controlling block of shares of the car factory in Warsaw by the company "AvtoZAZ". Joint projects in the energy transit sector are also of great importance for the two countries. In particular, I mean the pipeline "Odesa-Brody", which will economically benefit both Poland and Ukraine after extension of this pipeline to Plotsk.
Do you plan to change Ukraine's foreign policy course? What are your priorities?
Viktor Yanukovych: The goals were clearly defined by the National Unity Pact, which was signed by the President Viktor Yushchenko, the Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz and representatives of the political forces of the coalition. Primarily it concerns further integration into the European and Euroatlantic institutions. Implementation of the Ukraine – EU Plan is irreversible, which should ultimately culminate in Ukraine's entry to EU. Also, we will not renounce adjusting our legislation to the WTO requirements.
You speak about joining NATO. But how are you going to persuade your compatriots, as 70% of them do not want integration with the Alliance?
Viktor Yanukovych: According to the public opinion surveys, NATO's popularity among Ukrainians is quite low. However, it does not mean that the public opposes cooperation with this institution, and such cooperation has been quite successful over the past years. Presently we implement joint programs, and in the future we plan to broaden this cooperation. Now our citizens are yet insufficiently informed about NATO, which is the main cause of people's negative attitude. People do not know enough about the Alliance and its substance yet.
Not long ago Ukraine had a serious political crisis. Therefore, one should proceed in the Euroatlantic direction in a cautious and measured way. The authorities should conduct an informational campaign, so that people learn about NATO more than what they heard during elections. At the same time, we should continue cooperation, which already allows our military to learn more about the service in the NATO armies.
What is Poland's role in the process of Ukraine's integration into the EU and NATO?
Viktor Yanukovych: Over the past years, Poland has always supported Ukraine in the international forums. As we are neighbors, we should help each other. Our Government will make sure that it continues in the same manner. We appreciate Poland's support, and we hope that Warsaw will continue this policy.
After all, such help is mutually beneficial, as mutual lobbying of each other's interests allows us to consolidate our international standing. One popular Ukrainian adage emphasizes importance of togetherness. I believe that not only Ukraine but also Poland is interested in seeing Ukraine's accession to EU and NATO as soon as possible. Here is a fresh example for you: I know that during a recent visit to Brussels of the Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and during his meeting with the EU EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana, they discussed the issue of Ukraine's integration into EU. And their final statement declared that it is an important task both for Poland and the EU to preserve Ukraine's pro-European course.
On my part, I would like to assure that Ukraine's strategic European choice will not change.
You speak about integration with the West. At the same time, Ukraine has complicated relations with Russia. How can you improve these relations?
Viktor Yanukovych: Over the past six months, relations between Moscow and Kyiv have not been easy, to put it mildly. Now we plan to improve these relations. We will develop our relations with the Russian Federation, proceeding from the simple and understandable principle: What meets Ukraine's national interests is good for Ukraine. Such policy makes sense for our partners. We realize that Russia also defends its national interests. But if both sides know each other's position, it will be easier to find a compromise. The first step towards improvement of the Ukrainian-Russian relations will be resumption of the work of the Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic Cooperation of the Yushchenko-Putin Commission.
I had a working meeting with the First Vice Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitriy Medvedev, and we extensively discussed the work of these bilateral bodies. Russia is interested in the integration processes on the territory of the former USSR, and in Ukraine's active participation in these processes. In turn, we are interested in creating within Single Economic Space (Editor's note: Russia calls on Ukraine to form together with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan an international organization of economic character, something like East European version of EU) a full-fledged free trade area, and in forming the customs union in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Community. We also want to cooperate with Russia on the issues of energy, aviation, ship building, and on removing barriers for import of the Ukrainian consumer products into Russia. There are many issues which, if positively solved, can benefit both sides. If we find common language, the Ukrainian-Russian relations will be a good and real partnership.
Newspaper "Dzennik"
September 6, 2006 | |
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