The America We Saw

The most striking result of Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh’s working visit to the US is not so much specific agreements on certain issues as above all the confirmation of a very important fact: the two countries are in fact forging a new tolerant and simultaneously constructive partnership. As a member of the official delegation, this writer had ample opportunity to see this for himself. Earlier, our relations with the US were different. What irritated me most was the pedantic tone of American officials, especially IMF envoys, who, understanding our economy as little as they did medicine, would take the liberty of delivering us moral lectures and “teaching right from wrong” at every step. This has always reminded me of the old times and the position of our “big brother” whose “protection,” I hope, we have shaken off forever. It is primarily by force of these circumstances that I developed a biased attitude toward the US. In one of my publications, I allowed myself to note that we should not go to Europe through the American gate. But now I am inclined to think this is slipping into the past. I know all the details of our previous discussions at the US Treasury Department. But this time, received by Secretary Paul H. O’Neill, we felt a completely new tone, a desire to listen and understand. IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler gave an unequivocal appraisal of this situation: a new stage has come in the relations between Ukraine and an entity that is the crucial element in the system of international financial organizations.

What caused all this? Naturally, many things. First of all, there are our successes in our transformation processes and our resolute support for actions against international terrorism. Yet, the main factor seems to be different. The US itself is also changing. It is very important to understand that the point is not only the new political situation now being shaped after the tragic events of September 11. When I was, as part of a delegation, in the US last June, changes for the better were also quite discernible (perhaps not to the present extent). The most important thing for me is that the US, in my opinion, is now aware that it is also to blame for the very costly miscalculations and errors we have made in the course of reforms. It is common knowledge that we have been diligent pupils in almost everything.

On the other hand, the US seems to understand that Ukraine can also do without America. For, by all accounts, we managed not only to climb out of the depths of our crisis of over a decade but also to achieve a very fast growth rate virtually without foreign assistance. For over two years, the US-sponsored IMF and World Bank have in fact stood aside, taking nothing but a contemplative attitude toward us.

One more thing is that all the meetings emphasized a good disposition toward our president and the appreciation of his role in bolstering our statehood, carrying out irreversible reforms, and implementing a pro-European option of development. The US is well aware that the Land Code, recently passed by Verkhovna Rada and discussed at almost every meeting we had, is a logical continuation of tremendous work on land reform that Mr. Kuchma began as long ago as November 1994, when he issued an executive order to that effect. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, deservedly considered as a world leader, literally said the following at the very beginning of our discussions, “Tell President Kuchma that he is doing well, and I am very pleased with this.”