“Looking Forward To the Future”

Robert Simmons, Deputy Assistant of NATO’s Secretary General for Security, has pointed out that Ukraine is successfully implementing the 2004 Target Plan for Cooperation. Addressing a press conference last Wednesday in Kyiv after the final meeting of Ukrainian and NATO experts, Mr. Simmons noted that his delegation had analyzed the implementation of the 2004 Target Plan and the prospects for drawing up the 2005 Target Plan, Interfax-Ukraine reports. “We have discussed a whole range of problems that are part of the Target Plan, such as military cooperation, defense reform, and matters related to building a civil society,” he said.

According to the NATO official, there will be a Ukraine-NATO meeting in December at the foreign ministers level, at which the alliance “will again confirm its readiness to help in the directions we have outlined.” “All the alliance members expressed their readiness and support for the idea of further cooperation with Ukraine in all directions and offering all kinds of comprehensive assistance to this country in the specified fields. It is this idea that we are going to take back to Brussels for further approval. We are satisfied with the results and are looking forward to the future,” Mr. Simmons said.

Commenting on the implementation of the 2004 Target Plan, the NATO representative used the phrase about a glass being either half empty or half full. “I would rather say that in this case the glass is full by more than half. As for defense reform and the practical aspects of cooperation between NATO and Ukraine, Ukraine has made impressive progress in these directions,” he noted. “At the same time, what is causing concern is the work aimed at establishing democratic standards in the country,” Mr. Simmons added.

Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oleh Shamshur, noted that “the discussions confirmed the strategic nature of Ukraine-NATO relations and showed NATO’s support for this course, as well as the seriousness of Ukraine’s intentions to follow the course of Euro-Atlantic integration.