[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 14 (Monday, April 11, 2005)]
[Pages 557-558]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Joint Statement by President
George W. Bush and President Viktor Yushchenko
April 4, 2005
A New Century Agenda for the Ukrainian-American Strategic Partnership
Today, the United States and Ukraine affirm a new era of strategic
partnership between our nations and friendship between our peoples. We
commit our nations to working together to advance freedom and security
grounded in democratic principles and institutions, which form the
foundation of our relationship.
We salute the people of Ukraine who claimed their right to elect
freely their leadership. Their brave stand was a victory for democracy
inspiring those throughout the world who yearn for freedom and dignity
in the face of tyranny, isolation and oppression. The territorial
integrity, security, and political and economic transformation of
Ukraine are essential to building a Europe whole, free and at peace. We
will work together to strengthen democratic institutions in Ukraine and
to advance freedom in Europe, its neighborhood and beyond.
We will work to defeat terrorism wherever it occurs and to advance
economic development, democratic reforms and peaceful settlement of
regional disputes. We are grateful to the men and women of those nations
who have served and sacrificed for Iraqi freedom. Today, we pledge
ourselves anew to assist the Iraqi people to secure liberty, peace and
prosperity, and we join our efforts to assist Iraq in its economic
reconstruction. Fear and resentment, the breeding ground of terrorism,
must be replaced with freedom and hope.
We also commit to work together to back reform, democracy, tolerance
and respect for all communities, and peaceful resolution of conflicts in
Georgia and Moldova, and to support the advance of freedom in countries
such as Belarus and Cuba. Citizens in our open societies value the
freedom to practice their faiths, and we are committed to promoting
religious tolerance globally.
As Ukraine undertakes far-reaching reform at home, it can count on
the United States for support. We applaud Ukraine's commitment to curb
corruption, promote the rule of law and improve the business climate.
Progress on reforms will allow Ukraine to realize its aspirations to
move closer to, and ultimately join European, Euro-Atlantic and
international institutions.
We will further integrate Ukraine into the world economy and promote
investment and trade between our two countries. As a first step, the
Ukrainian Government seeks expeditious U.S. recognition as a market
economy. We agree to continue our close cooperation to ensure a process
that recognizes the evolution of Ukraine's economy.
We are committed to working together to achieve Ukraine's accession
to the World Trade Organization (WTO). For its part, the Ukrainian
Government will seek to secure, on an urgent basis, approval of
legislation and enact regulations that will facilitate accession and
contribute to lasting economic reform, including in agriculture,
manufacturing, services and the protection and enforcement of
intellectual property rights. The United States and Ukraine are
committed to working together to complete our bilateral negotiations for
Ukraine's accession to the WTO in 2005. We will also cooperate on the
outstanding multilateral work that must be concluded for Ukraine's WTO
accession. We also support immediately ending application of Jackson-
Vanik to Ukraine.
The United States supports Ukraine's NATO aspirations and is
prepared to help Ukraine achieve its goals by providing assistance with
challenging reforms. The United States supports an offer of an
Intensified Dialogue on membership issues with Ukraine at the meeting of
Alliance Foreign Ministers in Vilnius, Lithuania later this month. Our
cooperation will also deepen through the U.S.-led, largest-ever NATO
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trust fund to destroy obsolete and excess weaponry.
We are initiating an energy dialogue to cooperate in the
restructuring and reform of Ukraine's energy sector to encourage
investment, diversify Ukraine's energy supplies, reduce its energy
dependence, bolster commercial competition in Eurasian energy sectors
and promote nuclear safety. To advance this dialogue, we are
establishing an Energy consultative mechanism between our Energy
Ministries. United States Secretary of Energy Bodman will travel to
Ukraine in the near future to initiate the consultative mechanism and to
promote our energy and nonproliferation cooperation.
Building on our cooperation through the G-8 Global Partnership, the
Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and the Proliferation Security
Initiative, we pledge to begin a new chapter in the fight against the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of
delivery. We will deepen our cooperation on nonproliferation, export
controls, border security and law enforcement to deter, detect,
interdict, investigate and prosecute illicit trafficking of these
weapons and related materials; enhance the security of nuclear and
radiological sources; and dispose of spent nuclear fuel. We also agree
on the importance of addressing the growing threat posed by the
proliferation of ballistic missiles. In this regard, we will explore how
we can work together on missile defense, including beginning
negotiations on a framework to facilitate such cooperation and closer
industry-to-industry collaboration.
The security and stability of nations increasingly depends on the
health, well-being and prosperity of their citizens. We therefore commit
to cooperate on a broad agenda of social and humanitarian issues,
including halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and TB; fighting the scourge of
organized crime, trafficking in persons and child pornography; and
completing the Chornobyl Shelter Implementation Plan. To help complete
the Chornobyl Shelter, the United States will provide an additional $45
million to the Shelter Fund. Ukraine will also provide an additional
financial contribution and facilitate prompt completion of the Shelter.
U.S. assistance to Ukraine will particularly focus on solidifying
democratic advances through anti-corruption and rule of law programs,
media and NGO development, nonpartisan party and election monitor
training and other steps to improve electoral institutions and
practices.
We also support a bold expansion of contact between our societies.
To this end, Ukraine will eliminate visa requirements for Americans, and
the United States will reduce visa fees for Ukrainians. We aim to
enhance citizen exchanges, training opportunities and cooperation
between business communities of both countries.
We commit our two nations to stand together as global partners for
freedom, security and prosperity in the 21st century.
Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of
this joint statement.