Ukraine and Poland at the Turn of the Millennium
We would like Ukrainian-Polish relations to reach further than neighborly contacts between institutions and among the political elite, and become effective ties linking our communities. This aspiration is reflected in the joint statement Toward Understanding and Unity adopted by the presidents of our countries in May 1997. A dialogue on unity is needed by both our nations and the rest of Europe. It is evolving in a stable fashion, albeit not without difficulties. Given completely open borders, this dialogue became a true understanding between our sovereign nations. We believe that Ukraine and Poland are putting to good use the opportunity of free passage and the openness of public life which the nations of Central and Eastern Europe have created for themselves over the past ten years.
An original component of the process of uniting our peoples is the multilateral dialogue between the Ukrainian and Polish publics. In this sphere we attest to the presence of a considerable number of non-governmental organizations. The programs of numerous Polish non-governmental organizations are primarily focused on assisting the transformation of the Ukrainian economy and building civil society (for example in local self-government) and are evidence that this environment is well aware of the Ukrainian realities and of the Ukrainian NGO sector.
One can mention the remarkably intensive nature of Ukrainian-Polish cultural and scholarly contacts. In our cooperation we would like to place special emphasis on contacts among young people, which we consider the best way to overcome the negative aspects of our historical past.
While building our future, we must not forget our history which unites us and emerges as a solid basis of our good- neighborly relations. For this reason we regard dialogue dealing with complicated, often painful pages of our history as matter of obligation. The process of unity between the Ukrainian and Polish peoples requires our joint consideration of the past.
Our countries are doing much and we assure that they will continue to do so to immortalize the historical memories of our peoples, the way it is done in Kharkiv, Jaworzno, Warsaw, and Krakow, and as it will soon be done in Lviv.
We are much pleased to state that we remember the great Ukrainian and Polish literati and their contribution in our history. Restoration work at the Julius Slowacki Museum in Kremenets is nearing completion and a statue of Taras Shevchenko will be unveiled at the public garden named for the great Ukrainian prophet in Warsaw.
We know that real dialogue takes time. It must have room also for the problems facing ethnic minorities. Modern Europe attaches great importance to securing their proper place in civil society. Our countries have done much in that direction, but there is a great deal to be accomplished in order for us to declare that all the problems of Ukrainians in Poland and Poles in Ukraine have been solved.
ASPECTS OF REGIONAL POLICY AND UKRAINIAN-POLISH COOPERATION
Regional economic initiatives are of tremendous importance for Ukraine and Poland. Transport and energy projects are of special interest here. One such project is the Baltic-Black-Sea transport network (Gdynia/Gdansk — Odesa/Illichivsk) meant to increase cargo carriages and adjusting railroads, highways, and port infrastructures to international standards. Our joint interest is in upholding business activities, including Ukrainian-Polish business entities servicing the Odesa-Gdansk transport corridor.
One of the important issues of the Ukrainian-Polish negotiating process is familiarization with the Ukrainian concept of energy source diversification. In the discussion of European energy security and new gas pipelines, Poland is governed by the joint aspiration to strengthen Ukrainian- Polish partnership and will make decisions only in coordination with the interests of Ukraine.
Ukrainian-Polish talks concerning the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline have been underway since 1997, specifically the possibility of extending the pipeline to Polish territory. The construction if the Caspian oil transport line could secure Ukraine diversification of its energy sources and enhance its energy security. The implementation of the Odesa-Brody-Gdansk oil pipeline also offers an opportunity of alternative oil supplies and commercial transit across the Polish territory. Special commissions set up within the framework of the Ukrainian- Polish Joint Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation are studying the specifics. The Ukrainian side is working hard to complete the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline.
As a candidate EU member, Poland constructs its relations with Ukraine also taking into consideration EU policy on Ukraine. Poland was gratified to accept the EU Joint Strategy on Ukraine, envisaging cooperation with Ukraine in developing a joint energy infrastructure, construction of transport lines, including those for transit of energy resources. Poland is also interested in the implementation of these plans.
All these considerations lead one to the assumption that the formation of Ukrainian-Polish strategic partnership depends on both historical ties and the current realities and challenges. Another important point is that Ukrainian-Polish good-neighborly relations have a direct impact on European stability and security, as well as on strengthening this region.
Ukraine and Poland will face new challenges in the coming years. Poland will become a member of the European Union and Ukraine will face the prospect of establishing good-neighborly relations with EU. We consider it an undeniable fact that Ukraine and Poland, while intensively cooperating in numerous spheres, have an opportunity to make a significant contribution in building a safe neighborhood between the European Union and countries that are not its members.
It is a task and an obligation for both Ukraine and Poland toward the European Union, as well as toward all the other countries bordering on them and sharing this region with them, the road to which traverses our territories and lies through the experience of our own neighborhood.
The main value facilitating the formation and development of contacts between our independent countries and sovereign peoples over the past decade remains the idea of Ukrainian-Polish good-neighborly relationships. These past ten years are not a significant period if compared to the past of our peoples numbering centuries, yet it is an exceptional page in our history. This period is marked by peaceful coexistence and cooperation, laying the foundations of modern and future Ukrainian-Polish relations in an essentially new geopolitical situation. Ukrainian-Polish good-neighborly relations are also an example to be followed by the other countries in our region, helping strengthen its stability and security. This is our joint contribution in the enhancement and enrichment of Europe.
Our joint contribution to the Ukrainian- Polish dialogue about past and present realities is a meditation on the common heritage of Ukrainian-Polish society. It is also a stimulus to search for what will strengthen and enrich our partnership. Thus we can state with perfect confidence that the guidelines of our cooperation formulated over the past decade can and must be developed. We define with increasing clarity what unites and what still separates us.
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
In contemporary Ukrainian-Polish society we find not only a common historical destiny uniting both our peoples, but also and primarily an important strategic interest.
Ukrainian-Polish cooperation, relying on the unity of views on the principal issues of Europe’s future, has become on our continent a factor of strategic importance. Intensive good-neighborly relations between Ukraine and Poland belong to the important questions of modern Europe. They determine the scope and human potential of both countries, as well as an opportunity to expand the influence of an integrated Europe. It is thus, owing to the Ukrainian- Polish strategic partnership, that building the architecture of European relations in terms of security receives a self-sufficient value and new dimension. Ukraine supported Poland’s decision to join NATO. Ukraine’s pragmatic orientation toward cooperation with the North Atlantic alliance remains unchanged, as evidenced by the establishment of a special partnership between Ukraine and NATO, Ukraine’s participation in the Partnership for Peace Program, and by Ukrainian-Polish military cooperation, particularly within the framework of the Polish- Ukrainian Peacekeeping Battalion. Poland was and is an advocate of Ukraine’s aspiration for European integration.
Poland will become a member of the European Union in the near future. For Ukraine, this membership is still a distant prospect. However, it is important for Poland to realize that no new iron curtain will appear on the future border between the European Union and Ukraine.
Poland will take active steps to work out decisions such that countries remaining outside the EU will be able to take part in the cooperation of all the peoples and countries of the continent. Poland regards cooperation with the community of European nations in forming Ukraine’s destiny and its being prepared to become a neighbor of the European Union as a special mission and obligation. As neighbors, we need each other to form a policy with regard to our region, as well as for the global processes in which Central-Eastern Europe became a participant quite recently, which processes will decide the future of the world: the unimpeded movement of capital, increasing importance of progressive technologies, along with integration of information and communications. These challenges face Ukraine as well as Poland.
Today’s Ukraine is in a complicated phase of the construction and strengthening of its sovereignty. This complexity is primarily explained by the fact that this country is at the initial stage of forming the principles of a new socioeconomic system. Such transformations require considerable effort from both those in power and the citizens of Ukraine; they are inseparably linked with increasing self-sacrifice in the case of reform of a half-way character. Ukraine has made significant success in this direction.
Poland is a country which has accomplished much in transforming its social, political, and economic system since the early 1990s and on the road to Euro- Atlantic and European integration. All this has been accomplished owing to the determination of both the Polish government and Polish society. While utilizing the acquired experience of political and economic reform, Poland is aware of the need to create institutions for a political and social dialogue with Ukraine capable of supporting and enhancing the process of transformation in Ukraine.
Since the early 1990s, Ukraine and Poland have become aware of the necessity and prospects of a close partnership. In our ten years of cooperation, international relationships have formed between Ukraine and Poland that are unique both in Ukrainian-Polish history and against the background of European cooperation. We are convinced that there is no alternative to this partnership.
We also do not forget that strategic partnership simultaneously means mutual obligations of the partners. The level of Ukrainian-Polish partnership, while laying good foundations for further attainments in our cooperation, requires a critical approach to our common achievements.
INSTITUTIONS OF UKRAINIAN-POLISH COOPERATION
Ukrainian-Polish relations have reached the stage of a uniquely intense political dialogue; the prerequisites for neighborly ties have been provided in the form of a considerable legal framework, complete openness of interpersonal contacts, standing institutions of bilateral dialogue, and by introducing mechanisms, particularly in terms of economic cooperation.
Support and development of the current level of Ukrainian-Polish partnership depends to a considerable degree on the preservation of existing political contacts, strengthening of our social dialogue, and the effectiveness of the policy of reform in Ukraine. Solving these tasks is facilitated by a number of existing standing institutions of Ukrainian- Polish cooperation:
— Consultative Committee of the Presidents of Ukraine and Poland.
Its first working meeting was held on May 27, 1993. The Committee deals with issues relating to regional security, economic cooperation strategy, problems of ethnic minorities, regional cooperation, and new transport lines for energy resources. It provides for bilateral consultations with regard to most pressing bilateral issues. — Ukrainian-Polished Joint Committee for Trade and Economic Cooperation. Founded in January 1993, it is the principal institutional form of economic cooperation in the broadest sense of the word between Ukraine and Poland. It involves officials from all the relevant ministries and agencies in both countries.
— Ukrainian-Polish Economic Forum.
Founded in 1993 in Rzeszow, it is a formula of annual meetings allowing Ukrainian and Polish businesspeople to exchange experience in reforms, submit proposals for cooperation, and discuss problems concerning a joint quest for sponsors for specific projects. Representatives of the Polish and Ukrainian government, politicians, lawmakers, and businessmen are invited to take part in its sessions.
— Ukrainian Polish and Polish- Ukrainian Parliamentary Groups.
— Ukrainian-Polish/Polish-Ukrainian Forum. Founded in 1992 and resumed in 1999, it unites noted Ukrainian and Polish scientists, scholars, and cultural figures and has among other things actively supported the idea of creating a Ukrainian- Polish university.
— Standing Ukrainian-Polish Conference for European Integration.
Its organizing meeting took place in March 1999 supervised by the deputy foreign ministers of Ukraine and Poland, it involves officials from all the concerned ministries and agencies in both countries; it is under the patronage of the Ukrainian and Polish premiers and has had four sittings to date; this conference is a way to transfer to Ukraine Poland’s experience in European integration and EU accession as well as an opportunity to comprehensively analyze Ukrainian-Polish relations now that both countries are approaching the European Union.
— Polish-American-Ukrainian Cooperation Initiative. This involves the cooperation of the Polish, US, and Ukrainian governments within the PAUCI framework (the initiative for its foundation originated in Kyiv in 1998); it embraces three spheres: macroeconomic reform, development of small and medium business, formation of a local self-government system; the objective of PAUCI lies in supporting economic reform in Ukraine by sharing Polish experience; the cooperation practiced among non-governmental organizations in the three countries is of special importance; over thirty grants have been made within the PAUCI framework.
— Polish Institute in Kyiv
The institute has been operational for two years as a major cultural venue.
