Activity of the National Centre of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine

A round table under such name was carried out on 28 March 2008 in Kyiv Great Reception Hall of the State Administrative Department. This event was organized by Institute of National Security Problems under the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine and National Centre of  Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine. Opening the forum Head of the National Centre Volodymyr Gorbulin admitted that five-year period of introduction of legislatively vested strategic aim of our country – to acquire full NATO membership – enables to make a so-called stop, look round, think over the negative results and move on.

Borys Tarasyuk, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for European Integration, Volodymyr Khandogiy, the First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Valeriy Ivaschenko, Deputy Defence Minister of Ukraine, Valeriy Tretyakov, Deputy Minister for Extraordinary Situations and Population Protection from the Chornobyl Catastrophe After-Effects, the Slovak Deputy Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Attila Szep have stated their positions delivering speeches on the topic “Achievements and Problems of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine and Ways of Deepening Cooperation with the Alliance”.

During the round table a vivid discussion took place. Representatives both of executive bodies, in particular, of the Security Service of Ukraine, General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and of non-governmental organizations, analytical centres and institutions, including UA-NATO Civic League, Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies, named after Oleksander Razumkov, Foreign Policy Research Institute under the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Institute of National Security Problems under the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine and National Defence Academy of Ukraine etc. took active part in it.

Participants of the forum have arrived at a conclusion that nowadays it is necessary to unite efforts of the whole Ukrainian society in order to achieve consensus in choosing such type of collective security system that will meet requirements of our state.

This international conference was carried out by the National Centre of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine together with the Institute of National Security Problems under the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine on 30 November 2007. Officials from the Secretariats of the President and Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Apparatus of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, representatives of central executive bodies and leaders of scientific and educational institutions, famous experts on nuclear defence issues & fight against terrorism as well as media representatives took part in the event.

During the conference the following key issues have been discussed:

*  implementation of the state policy in the above-mentioned field,
*  national security maintenance,
* improvement of cooperation between our state and NATO member countries with taking into account global tendencies of the modern world development.

The discussion also referred to other important issues concerning non-proliferation of nuclear terrorism. In particular, Acting Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Valentyn Nalyvaychenko has informed the participants about arrangements held by his institution, which are aimed at counteraction to illegal turnover of radioactive substances and nuclear materials.

On 21-23 November 2007 Dnipropetrovsk branch of the National Institute for Strategic Studies carried out International Workshop “Exchange of Experience Concerning Defence Industry Reform in Ukraine and Visegrad Countries”. Problems that have appeared for almost seventeen years in local defence-industrial complex need both comprehension and elaboration of concrete propositions on their solution. That’s why the following issues were submitted for consideration during this forum:

* “Structural and property reforms in defence industry of Ukraine and Visegrad countries”
* “Defence orders and international cooperation in weapons production”
* “Defence business in Ukraine and Visegrad countries”
* “Ukraine and Visegrad countries: partners or competitors”
* “Development of cooperation between enterprises of Ukraine and Visegrad countries”.

The Slovak Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Urban Rusnak, the Hungarian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Andrash Barshoni, the Czech Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Yaroslav Bashta, Deputy Ambassador, Advisor-Minister of the Embassy of Poland to Ukraine Leszek Szerepka and numerous representatives of the above-mentioned diplomatic institutions and defence-industrial complex of Visegrad countries took part in the event.

Ukrainian party was represented by Valeriy Ivashchenko – Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Volodymyr Belyashov – Director of the Department for Arms Control and Military-Technical Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affaires of Ukraine, Mykhailo Lukhanin – Director of the Department for Defence-Industrial Policy and Military-Technical Cooperation, Ministry of Industrial Policy of Ukraine, Mykhailo Borysyuk – Chief Designer of the Kharkiv Design Office for Mechanical Engineering named after A.Morozov, Serhiy Alyohin – Chief Designer of the Kharkiv Design Office for Engine Engineering, Vitaliy Nemylostyvy – Director-General of the Factory named after V.Malyshev, Andriy Palehin – Director-General of the Design Office “Artillery Armament”, representatives of other defence-industrial enterprises, Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Apparatus of the National Centre of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, State Company “Ukrspetsexport”, experts and scientists.

During two working days fruitful discussions concerning Ukrainian defence industry reform, role of ministries, commissions, holdings and agencies in these transformations, patterns of ownership and sources of investment in national defence-industrial complex, perspectives of introduction of joint projects using special NATO and EU funds for defence purchases etc. were carried out. In the long run participants of the workshop made the following conclusions:

- process of transformation of defence-industrial complex requires timely and complex legislative maintenance;
- entry into NATO and EU contributes to "revival" of activity of national enterprises of defence-industrial complex with tendency to increase internal orders for their production;
- NATO membership does not exclude cooperation in defence-industrial sphere with other countries, including Russian Federation;
- offset system of purchases due to returning to the state of means which have been spent for purchase of military production in another country and usage of these funds for strengthening position of enterprises of national defence-industrial complex acquires great importance for reanimation of defence-industrial complex activity;
- irrespective of organizational structure and patterns of ownership enterprises of defence-industrial complex undergo state influence on their activity through the system of licensing, issue of sanctions to export and import, state orders and other mechanisms;
- Visegrad countries during transformation of national defence-industrial complex give significant attention to preservation of cumulative scientific and technical potential;
- nowadays there is a mutual interest in cooperation of defence-industrial complex enterprises of Ukraine with corresponding enterprises of Visegrad group countries.

According to the results of this vital discussion organisers of the forum have arrived to the unanimous conclusion to further continue such a dialogue next year.

Workshop “Ukraine’s Road to the EU and the Experience of Bulgaria” was held in the city of Velingrad, Republic of Bulgaria on 15-18 November 2007. This workshop became a periodical event in realization of the joint Ukrainian-Bulgarian Project “European and Euro-Atlantic Integration: Way to Democracy” where non-governmental organizations are the main executors, namely Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation (Ukraine), Bulgarian School of Politics and Institute for Political and Legal Studies in Bulgaria. The project is funded by the US Embassy Democracy Commission.

Experts from leading analytical centres, journalists, representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Ukraine  and of state institutions, in particular  Apparatus of the National Centre of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine participated in the event from the Ukrainian side.

During the workshop Bulgarian politicians and specialists shared their experience and the lessons learned in the process of Bulgaria’s integration into the EU and NATO in the past several years.

The discussions helped to provide answers to many questions the Ukrainian participants had in the context of potential future membership in the Alliance.

Starting with methodical-educational workshop on the basis of Zaporizhzhya Regional Znannya Society's Ukraine Organization practical realization of the Pilot Informational-Educational Project "Involvement of Ukraine into European Security System: Strategy, Opportunities, Directions and Problems" began on 17-18 October 2007. Two representatives from every rural region, regional centre and Energodar town took part in its work (altogether 80 people).

This project was launched within the framework of the budget programme “Realization of the State Organizational, Informational-Analytical and Scientific-Methodological Arrangements of NATO-Ukraine Action Plan” for 2007 by the Apparatus of the National Centre of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine with assistance of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. It is also planned to hold the similar group studies in Poltava (25-26 October) and Kharkiv (10-11 November) regions.

The main objective of this idea is creation of vertically integrated network of highly qualified experts in the field of Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine provided with necessary informational and analytical materials for carrying out wide-range educational work concerning informing society at the local level.

Creation of scientific-educational library “Euro-Atlantic Course of Ukraine” which includes 18 scientific-popular publications (total edition - 90 thousand copies) will contribute to realization of the above-mentioned plan. The subject-matter of these publications embraces issues important for common citizens, in particular: “What is NATO? Creation, Development and Current State”, “Outlines of European Security: Process of Creation”, “Threats to Ukraine”, “NATO Bases in Ukraine: Reality and Conjectures”, “Ukrainian Defence-Industrial Complex under NATO Conditions”, “Benefits of Ukraine’s Integration into NATO” etc.

Furthermore, the Apparatus of the National Centre of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine only during conducting workshop on the basis of Zaporizhzhya Regional Znannya Society's Ukraine Organization has delivered 78 publications of informational-analytical materials on Euro-Atlantic topics (altogether 4040 copies), for workshops in Poltava and Kharkiv  – 4409 and  5076 copies correspondingly.

The concept of scientific-methodical and organizational foundations of this initial significant event presupposes distribution of informational-analytical materials in the field of Euro-Atlantic integration of our state among the population through regional and local system of the Society "Znannya" of Ukraine which, according to the competition results, was appointed as the main executor of the action plan, and also through 54 informational stands created on the basis of universal scientific libraries and libraries of higher educational institutions patronized by Ukraine-NATO Civic League.

On October 2007 Student Debates “Ukraine-NATO Relations” took place in the city of Sumy on the basis of Ukrainian Academy of Banking.

Representatives of this meeting have discussed issues about internal structure of the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization, its activity concerning regulation of regional conflicts, in particular in the Balkans and Afghanistan, history of Ukraine-NATO relations and problems which faces our state on the way of Euro-Atlantic Integration. Students and teachers of Ukrainian Academy of Banking, Head of the Ukraine-NATO Civic League and representatives of the Apparatus of the National Centre of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine participated in the event..

NATO Autumn Academy “Ukraine – NATO: Myths and Realities” took place In Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National Pedagogical University on 17-19 October 2007. Issues concerning relations between our state and the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO transformation and place of this institution in modern defence system were discussed during the event. Furthermore, topic about peacekeeping operations in the Balkans and Ukraine’s participation in these operations was raised in the course of the academy.

A tele-bridge with NATO HQ in Brussels held during this forum gave an opportunity to draw in discussion experts directly involved into day-to-day Alliance activity. In addition to students, scientists, experts of research institutions from different regions of our country and NATO member-states, as well as Michael Durey, Director of NATO Information and Documentation Centre in Kyiv, and representatives of the Apparatus of the National Centre of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine took part in the debates.

Participants of the event exchanged opinions and discussed prospects and economical aspects of Ukraine-NATO cooperation during Student Debates “Economical Interests of Ukraine and Political Security in Modern International Relations”.

NATO Academy was held in Luhansk for the first time, but earlier it took place in Simferopol, Donetsk, Odessa and Lviv. The objective of these representative meetings is wide-range information distribution among Ukrainian students, especially future specialists in international relations, about Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, activity of the Alliance and also involvement of young people into discussion concerning problem issues in this sphere.

Informational Workshop “Ukraine-NATO” was carried out in Kyiv Military Lyceum named after Ivan Bogun on 20 October 2007. This event was organized by Ukrainian Veteran Association, Cathedral Cossack Association “Sich” and Ukraine-NATO Civic League. During the workshop participants were informed about current activity of the  North-Atlantic Treaty Organization and Ukraine-NATO cooperation. In particular, topic about myths and stereotypes concerning the Alliance and Ukraine-NATO relations gave rise to active discussion.