[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 41 (Friday, March 22, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               CSIS AMERICAN-UKRAINIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE

                                 ______


                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 21, 1996

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, as cochairman of the Congressional Study 
Group on Ukraine, I applaud the American-Ukrainian Advisory Committee 
for the constructive policy recommendations contained in a communique 
issued at its third meeting, which was held in New York City on 
November 17 and 18. The committee is a high-level group of 
distinguished Americans and the Ukrainians, chaired by President Jimmy 
Carter's national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and sponsored 
by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a highly 
regarded policy research institute in the Nation's Capital.
  The committee's communique, with 22 recommendations encompassing the 
areas of security policy, economic reform, and business investment, 
provides a strategic blueprint for enhancing American-Ukrainian 
relations on the grounds that an independent and secure Ukraine is good 
for Europe and its stability and is an important geopolitical interest 
of the United States. Its key recommendations, to which I invite my 
colleagues' attention, are:
  A clear articulation by the United States of its vision of European 
security architecture and development of a consistent, long-term United 
States policy toward Ukraine that views and supports an independent, 
democratic, and economically successful Ukraine as a Central European 
state and a key factor of security and stability in Europe as a whole;
  Creation of a ministerial-level United States-Ukrainian Joint 
Commission to deal with key issues such as energy supplies and 
security, environmental protection, and combating organized crime;
  Extend eligibility to Ukraine under the NATO Participation Act of 
1994 and encourage and support Ukraine's active participation in the 
Partnership for Peace Program;
  Facilitate Ukraine's participation and integration into a variety if 
European multilateral institutions;
  Acceleration and broadening of the Ukrainian Government's 
privitization program;
  Renewed commitment by the Ukrainian Government, with international 
support, to implementing real macroeconomic stabilization;
  Establishment by the Ukrainian Government of clear property and 
contract rights to protect and enforce foreign and domestic investors' 
rights; and
  Creation of a joint American-Ukrainian Business Forum for business 
leaders to discuss business opportunities and obstacles in both 
countries.
  After centuries under harsh imperial rule, Ukraine emerged from the 
wreckage of the Soviet Union as a New Independent State which wants to 
belong to an expanded European Community. As one who has long supported 
the struggle of the Ukrainian people to free themselves from Moscow's 
yoke, I strongly believe that Ukraine's continued independence and its 
development as a democracy based on a market economy are vitally 
important elements in promoting enduring peace in Europe.

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