NATO-UKRAINE CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (2004)

13 January

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Mr. Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, visited NATO Headquarters where he met with the Secretary General of NATO, Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to discuss NATO-Ukraine relations.

February

NATO has co-organised the Orientation Course at the Ukrainian National Defence Academy. NATO experts visited Ukraine for Defence review.

17 March

The NATO-Ukraine Commission with Invitees met at Ambassadorial level in Brussels. The Ukrainian Ambassador informed the Commission regarding political, socio-economic, military, defence and security sector reforms. Members of the Commission welcomed the ratification by the Verkhovna Rada of the NATO-Ukraine Memorandum of Understanding on Host Nation Support.

22 March

The Ukraine-NATO Inter-Parliamentary Council (UNIC) and the Sub-Committee on Central and Eastern Europe of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly met at NATO headquarters to discuss the Ukraine-NATO Action Plan and NATO-Ukraine relations in general. Participants stressed that the Action Plan has a substantial parliamentary dimension and that the NATO Parliamentary Assembly can play a role in assisting with those aspects. The Rada was commended for adopting a wide range of legislation in accordance with the Action Plan, but several speakers stressed that this should be followed up by effective implementation. Ukraine was urged to ensure respect for media freedom and independence, free and fair election campaigning, and unrestricted access to media for all contenders in elections. It was noted that the forthcoming Presidential election in Ukraine would be seen as a crucial indication of Ukraine's commitment in these areas.

5-24 April

Military Observer Course for the Ukrainian National Defence Academy took place in Yavoriv, Ukraine.

19 April

Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer held meetings in Kyiv with President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Foreign Minister Kostantyn Gryshchenko, Defence Minister Yevhen Marchuk and members of the Rada to discuss NATO-Ukraine relations.

19 April - 21 May

Operational Course took place for the Ukrainian National Defence Academy.

18 May

The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mr. Viktor Yanukovych, met with Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at NATO HQ in Brussels. Yanukovych expressed the hope that NATO would help Ukraine to eliminate surplus munitions. He also said that the Rada would pass soon draft legislation related to defence reform: reduction of the armed forces, allowance for adequate social protection for redundant military personnel and other. Secretary General of NATO reaffirmed that NATO will continue to support Ukraine in its reforms. (On June 3, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law on three distinctly separate divisions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: the Infantry, the Air Forces, and the Naval Forces. On June 15, the law was passed on legal foundations for social protection guarantees for service members transferred to the reserve as the result of reduction of the numeric strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as members of their families. On June 22, the law was passed on mandatory reduction of the numeric strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to 285,000 individuals by December 30, 2004).

25-27 May

The President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Hon Doug Bereuter (United States) together with Secretary General, Mr. Simon Lunn, made a Presidential visit to Ukraine. They met with President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and Mr. Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

May-June

NATO Terminology Course, Interpreters Course, Airborne Interpreters Course, Logistics Course took places in Ukraine; all organised for the Ukrainian National Defence Academy

6-7 June

Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer chaired the High -Level NATO-Ukraine Consultations in Warsaw. Defence Ministers from NATO countries and Ukraine discussed implementation of defence and security sector reforms in Ukraine, as well as further operational co-operation between NATO and Ukraine.   NATO and Ukraine signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Strategic Airlift.

14 June

The NATO-Ukraine Commission met at Ambassadorial level in Brussels to discuss progress made in implementing the first phases of the Defence Review and progress made in Ukraine-NATO joint working groups on defence reform, cooperation in armaments, science and environmental protection, as well as annual PARP bilateral consultations. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Mr Oleg Shamshur, informed the Commission of the continued reforms in the political, socio-economic, military, defence and security sector.

29 June

The Heads of State and Government of NATO and Ukraine met today in Istanbul to discuss the contribution of the NATO-Ukraine Distinctive Partnership.   President Kuchma briefed about the progress in implementation of the objectives of the NATO-Ukraine Action Plan. In this context, he confirmed his country's commitment to implement far reaching democratic, economic, military and defence reforms. In particular, he reiterated his pledge to strengthen democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech and press, and to ensuring the holding of free and fair presidential elections.

NATO Heads of State and Government underlined the importance of ensuring that the ongoing presidential election campaign and the voting process are conducted in a manner which is transparent, free, and fair, as judged by the OSCE.

Heads of State and Government welcomed Ukraine's contribution in the context of NATO's ISAF mission in Afghanistan, KFOR operation in Kosovo, Polish-led division in south-central Iraq and the Alliance's Operation Active Endeavour in the Mediterranean Sea. They welcomed the development by Ukraine of the Strategic Defence Bulletin until the year 2015 and co-operation on non-proliferation issues. They also discussed the proposed launch of a PfP Trust Fund on destruction of surplus stocks of munitions and small arms and light weapons in Ukraine.

29 June - 17 July

Military Observer Course was organised for the Ukrainian National Defence Academy.

2-5 August

Director of Partnership Coordination Cell (PCC) visited Kyiv for the opening of the NATO-Ukraine Defence Documentation Office.

20-21 September

NATO Military Committee visited Ukraine.

4 October - 6 November

Operational Course was organised for the Ukrainian National Defence Academy.

31 October, 21 November and 26 December

Members of the NATO PA took part in the International Election Observation Mission to monitor the repeated rounds of the Presidential election in Ukraine. On 27 December, the Mission made the overall assessment of the last round of election. It stated that an enormous amount of progress had been made since the previous rounds and that Ukraine moved substantially closer to meeting international standards for democratic elections.

27 December

Jap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO Secretary General made a statement on the presidential election in Ukraine: "I am pleased by the news that the Ukrainian people were able to express their choice for a new President in elections on 26 December, which have been positively assessed by the International Observation Mission. Ukraine is an important strategic partner for the Alliance, and we look forward to working with the new Ukrainian leadership to deepen our cooperation even further. Clearly this development is relevant to NATO's political relationship with Ukraine. Our overriding goal - to assist Ukraine to realise its Euro-Atlantic aspirations and to promote stability in the region - remains unchanged. We will continue to follow the events in Ukraine with utmost attention".