Yushchenko voices initiatives at UN session

Ideas aimed at meeting global challenges are known to be conceived in New York City. Officials from 120 countries gathered in NYC to attend the 64th session of the UN General Assembly. President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine took the floor during the debates and reaffirmed Ukraine’s intention to join the UN Security Council in 2016–2017, noting that Ukraine expects the permanent members of the Security Council to support its proposals to enhance the security guarantees extended to countries that have voluntarily renounced nuclear armaments or abandoned their development. “This will provide an important incentive to many countries,” he said.

Speaking on the challenges of the 21st century, the Ukrainian president urged the participants to work out a unified and clear-cut approach to the struggle against the pirates and protecting sailors.

He said Ukraine is especially concerned over the issue, considering that pirates have assaulted 18 ships with Ukrainian crew members over the past seven years, and that in the past nine months 35 Ukrainian sailors have been taken hostage. Yushchenko voiced an initiative to support peacekeeping forces across the world: “As an initiator of the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, we propose that the General Assembly consider additional measures aimed at enhancing the legal status of the participants in the peacekeeping operations.”

Commenting on the economic issues on the agenda, Yushchenko reminded those present that Ukraine and a number of other countries had proposed setting up the UN Economic Security Council: “The large scale of this proposal should not be a reason for putting it off or canceling its deliberation.”

While in NYC, Yushchenko met with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and told him he was convinced that Ukraine must be involved in developing new approaches to reform the architecture of European security. Rasmussen stressed that closer cooperation with Russia will not take place at the expense of Ukraine’s interests. Expansion remains NATO’s fundamental principle. He added that it is the sovereign right of every country to seek NATO membership, and that no other country can interfere with this right.