[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 17 (Monday, May 3, 1999)]
[Pages 732-733]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Ukraine 
Commission

April 24, 1999

    Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary General. Like all the NATO 
leaders, I am very pleased to welcome President Kuchma to this first 
summit meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission.
    When we launched this commission 2 years ago in Madrid, we hoped it 
would lead to a pragmatic and truly distinctive working partnership. 
Ukraine is a nation critical to our vision of an undivided, peaceful, 
democratic Europe.
    The experience of the last 2 years has vindicated our hopes. Our 
Armed Forces are working together well in Bosnia. Ukraine played a vital 
role in Kosovo in the verification mission until it was driven out by 
the regime in Belgrade.
    I appreciate President Kuchma's efforts to persuade Mr. Milosevic to 
end his campaign against the Kosovar Albanians so that the Kosovar 
people can come home with security and self-government.
    Ukraine has also proposed an ambitious program of cooperation with 
NATO, and the Alliance has agreed to establish our very first 
Partnership for Peace training center in the Ukrainian town of Yavorov. 
Our nations also will support Ukraine's efforts to reform its economy, 
deepen its democracy, and advance the rule of law, all vital to 
Ukraine's security and the success of our partnership.
    When we act to maintain peace and security in Europe we will strive 
to do so with our partners, including Ukraine. That is what we hope to 
do with Ukraine and other nations in Kosovo once peace is restored 
there.
    We have taken many practical, good steps toward realizing the 
promise of our partnership. But we should also not lose sight of the 
larger significance of what we are trying to do here, in light of the 
history of Ukraine and the history of Europe. For the people of Ukraine 
have felt the horrors of communism and fascism and famine. At different 
points in this century, the flags of five outside powers have flown over 
Ukrainian territory. Now Ukraine flies its own flag, and it is incumbent 
upon all of us to support Ukraine's transition and what its people have 
called their European choice.
    Ukraine still faces large challenges: political, economic, 
environmental. But now it is free to choose its destiny. And it has used 
that freedom to choose democracy and tolerance and free markets, 
integration, and the choice to dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

[[Page 733]]

    President Kuchma's presence here is a reminder that most of Europe 
is coming together today; most of Europe has rejected the idea that the 
quest for security is a zero-sum game in which one nation's gain is 
another's loss. So most of all, I want to take this opportunity on 
behalf of the people of the United States to express my respect and 
gratitude to President Kuchma and the people of Ukraine for the choices 
they are making, and to ensure them that all of us and our partners will 
stand with them as they work for a better future.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 4:25 p.m. at the Mellon Auditorium. In his 
remarks, he referred to Secretary General Javier Solana of the North 
Atlantic Treaty Organization; President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine; and 
President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
(Serbia and Montenegro). The transcript made available by the Office of 
the Press Secretary also included the remarks of Secretary General 
Solana and President Kuchma.