NATO Secretary-General Scheffer And Gryschenko Discuss Security In Iraq, Kosovo, And World.
NATO's Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Kostiantyn Gryschenko discussed security in Iraq, Kosovo, and the world. Gryschenko announced this to journalists at a press conference after talks with Scheffer. Gryschenko said that he and Scheffer also discussed joint measures aimed at improving the situations in these regions. Scheffer thanked Ukraine for its contribution to the strengthening of security in Iraq and Kosovo through provision of peacekeepers. "Military personnel from Ukraine are making a significant contribution to the work of the stabilization force in Iraq," Scheffer said. Scheffer also said that he and Gryschenko discussed the Ukrainian-NATO plan of goals, an agreement on assisting Ukraine in performing operations, and a memorandum on NATO use of Ukrainian military transport aircraft. Scheffer further said that Ukraine and NATO have good relations and expressed the belief that these relations could still be improved. Scheffer also said that NATO has not yet determined the level of the officials that will participate in the meeting of the Ukrainian-NATO commission that is scheduled to be held during the NATO summit in Istanbul. However, he added that NATO is hoping to create the conditions that will enable Ukraine to participate in the summit at the highest level. Scheffer said that Ukraine should also exert efforts to achieve this goal. Scheffer said that he intended to meet with President Leonid Kuchma, Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk, and Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn. Scheffer is in Ukraine for meetings with Ukrainian leaders. This is Scheffer's first visit to Ukraine since his appointment as the Secretary-General of NATO in January. Ukraine stated its intention to join NATO and is presently working with NATO on a Joint Action Plan, under which Ukraine would bring its standards closer to NATO standards. 316 Ukrainian peacekeepers have been serving in Serbia & Montenegro since September 1999 as part of a Ukrainian-Polish UkrPolBat peacekeeping battalion.
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