UN Esteems Ukrainian Peacekeepers
Receiving Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he highly appreciated this country’s contribution to the “maintenance of world peace.” According to presidential spokesperson Olena Hromnytska, Mr. Annan suggested that Ukraine take part in the peacekeeping operation now underway in Liberia. Pres. Kuchma said in turn that “the United Nations must be the chief arbiter in international security matters.” The president noted that it is necessary to reform the UN so it could better face today’s challenges, especially in decision-making, Interfax reports.
Sec.-Gen. Annan also noted progress in Ukraine’s attempts to stem the tide of AIDS. As is known, the UN General Assembly held a special session on combating the plague of the twentieth century. Addressing this session, Pres. Kuchma urged the Global AIDS Fund and the World Bank to render financial aid to prevent the spread of HIV in Ukraine. Pres. Kuchma said there are over 57,000 officially registered HIV-infected people in this country who need urgent help. Simultaneously, he noted that “the total number of AIDS victims in Ukraine might be several times higher.”
As part of UN-sponsored anti-AIDS functions, Pres. Kuchma also held a number of bilateral meetings with his foreign counterparts in New York. He met, among others, Presidents Jorge Fernando de Sampaio of Portugal, Joseph Kabila of Congo, and Pascal Couchepin of the Swiss Confederation. During the meeting with the president of Switzerland, the two sides discussed bilateral cooperation and ways to deepen their political dialogue, especially in the sphere of European integration. Pres. Kuchma discussed the prospects of cooperation in various branches of the nation’s economy with the president of the Congo. The meeting with Portugal’s president focused on implementing the agreement on temporary migration of Ukrainian job-seekers to Portugal. The agreement, signed last February, equates the status of Ukrainians working in Portugal with that of seasonal workers from other countries. According to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official information, more than 50,000 Ukrainians are currently illegally working in Portugal.
The US views Ukraine as an important strategic partner and strives to develop proper relations with it, the US former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said at a meeting with President Kuchma in New York. One of the most important steps toward developing such relations must be the final the removal of Jackson-Vanik Amendment provisions concerning our country. President Kuchma discussed this issue with leaders of the World Jewish Congress and Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913 by human rights champion Sigmund Livingstone. The president’s interlocutors assured him that they will take measures to speed up the process of canceling the outdated amendment providing for trade restrictions in the relationships with countries preventing Jewish emigration. This same problem was discussed last Wednesday in Kyiv by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and US Ambassador John Herbst. The latter told journalists that the question of canceling Jackson- Vanik and granting Ukraine the status of a market economy country is now under consideration in Washington.
At the UN General Assembly session Leonid Kuchma also discussed issues related to this organization’s work. The need for reforming the UN and, in part, its Security Council was among the subjects of Ukrainian president’s talks with his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf. They also spoke about possibilities for broadening bilateral cooperation, in part, in the military-technique sphere, and exchanged invitations to visit their countries.
Pres. Kuchma told journalists that Ukraine is prepared to participate in a peacekeeping mission in Liberia as suggested by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan the day before. The president stressed that Ukraine’s participation in the mission will consist in rendering military technology. He also hold informal meetings with leaders of Estonia, Germany, Canada, as well as Serbia and Montenegro, reports Interfax Ukraine.
