"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR"
An International Newsletter
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ROUNDTABLE IN KYIV
Willingness to improve the investment climate
Some forum participants remained unconvinced. "There are too many
words and not enough implementation," said Bohdan Hawrylyshyn,
head of Kiev's International Management Institute. "This country could
blow a great opportunity." [article six]
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR" - Number 504
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine, FRIDAY, June 17, 2005
------INDEX OF ARTICLES------
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. PRESIDENT PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS
Speaking at World Economic Forum Roundtable in Kiev
UT1 State TV, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1540 gmt 16 Jun 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, June 16, 2005
2. PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO WOOS INVESTORS TO UKRAINE
By Mara D. Bellaby, Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
3. UKRAINE TO PUSH AHEAD WITH PRIVATIZATION
Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Rybachuk pledges at investment conference
Bloomberg, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
4. POLAND URGES EU NOT TO CLOSE DOOR TO NEW MEMBERS
Aleksander Kwasniewski speaks in Kyiv at economic forum
By Stefan Wagstyl and Tom Warner in Kiev
Financial Times, London, UK, Thu, June 16 2005
5. FIVE EUROPEAN PRESIDENTS PRAISE UKRAINE AND CALL
FOR A NEW EUROPEAN VISION
Georgian President leads call for democratic transition in Belarus
Mark Adams, World Economic Forum, Communication
World Economic Forum's Ukraine Roundtable
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, June 16, 2005
6. POST-REVOLUTION UKRAINE ON DISPLAY AT WORLD FORUM
By Andrew Hurst, Reuters, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
7. UKRAINE: PRESIDENT, CABINET, RADA AGREE ON PROPERTY
RIGHTS AND ENSURING LAWFUL REALIZATION
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
8. UKRAINE'S GOVERNMENT: THE VIKTOR AND YULIA SHOW
Six months after the heady “orange revolution”,
what has Ukraine's new government actually achieved?
The Economist, London, UK, Thursday, June 16, 2004
9. FRENCH BREAKTHROUGH OF UKRAINE'S "IRON LADY"
By Viktor Zamyatin
Business and Socio-Political Weekly
Kyiv Weekly, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
10. MONEY NEWS
IMF experts believe prices in Ukraine will grow by almost 15%
Kyiv Weekly, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
11. FREEDOM HOUSE NOTES DEMOCRACY REINVIGORATION
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
12. POLL SHOWS TWO-THIRDS OF UKRAINIANS SUPPORT JOINING EU
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 16 Jun 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Jun 16, 2005
13. UKRAINIAN PUBLIC WATER COMPANY IN DNIPROPETROVSK TO
RECEIVE 20M EURO EBRD LOAN TO MODERNIZE ITS
WATER-SUPPLY NETWORK
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 1358 gmt 9 Jun 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Jun 09, 2005
14. UKRAINE: GAS INDEPENDENCE DREAM
Tatyana Stanovaya, RIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Fri, June 17, 2005
15. POLAND: UKRAINIANS WANT 24 JUNE TO MARK "POLISH-UKRAINIAN
RECONCILIATION ACCORDING TO PRESIDENT KWASNIEWSKI
PAP news agency, Warsaw, in Polish 1636 gmt 16 Jun 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Jun 16, 2005
16. OUR INCOMPREHENSIBLE "ORANGE" NEIGHBOR
What opinion polls reveal about Russian-Ukrainian relations
By Nikolai Popov, Novoe Vremya No. 23
Moscow, Russia, Monday, June 13, 2005
17. WHAT HAMPERS INTEGRATION IN POST-SOVIET AREA
Izvestia [from RIA Novosti's digest of the Russian press]
Moscow, Russia, Wed, June 15, 2005
18. "ABSURD BLASPHEMY!" SAYS RUSSIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS
WHILE POST-SOVIET BALTIC COUNTRIES PRESENT THEMSELVES
AS ONLY VICTIMS OF STALINIST ATROCITIES
Interview with Konstantin Kosachev, International Affairs Committee
State Duma, Russia's lower parliamentary house
RIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Tue, June 14, 2005
19. NEW SIGHT IN CHERNOBYL'S DEAD ZONE: TOURISTS
By C. J. Chivers, The New York Times
New York, New York, Wed, June 15, 2005
20. SAFE-BLOOD FOUNDATION WORKS TO STOP AIDS INFECTIONS
Has had invitations to enter Brazil and Ukraine
By Angus Macmillan, Dow Jones Newswires
Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, June 1, 2005
21. KATERYNA YUSHCHENKO PRESENTED WHEELCHAIRS TO
HANDICAPPED CHILDREN AND SENIORS
Wheelchair Foundation and United Ukrainian-American Relief Committee
Press office of the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, June 13, 2005
===============================================================
1. PRESIDENT PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS
Speaking at World Economic Forum Roundtable in Kiev
UT1 State TV, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1540 gmt 16 Jun 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, June 16, 2005
KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko has invited foreign investors to bid for
Ukrainian companies. Speaking at a World Economic Forum round table in
Kiev, Yushchenko pledged protection for foreign and domestic capital and
ruled out reprivatization. He named big Ukrainian companies which can be
privatized, including Ukraine's telecom monopoly Ukrtelekom.
Yushchenko said that Ukraine is a stable state with a steadily developing
economy, which has good political and business relations with the EU and
Russia.
The following is an excerpt from Yushchenko's address broadcast live by
Ukrainian state-owned television UT1 on 16 June:
Esteemed chairman, esteemed presidents, esteemed participants in the
round table, friends, ladies and gentlemen.
Let me thank all those who are in this hall, who have come to the round
table in Kiev. We can hold a dialogue about Ukraine's future in this world
which is so small and so big. This dialogue will give us many answers to
questions from not just international, but, I am sure, from national
investors as well. [Passage omitted: review of Ukrainian history, praise
for the heads of states who take part in the forum]
UKRAINE PREPARED TO COOPERATE WITH EU AND RUSSIA -----
The new Ukrainian authorities have helped the media to become
independent. Faith in justice and an impartial judiciary is returning to
Ukrainian citizens. We are doing everything to make sure that those who
have committed crimes under the cover of [the previous] government are
brought to justice.
We can see Ukraine becoming an important participant in the world
democratic process. Ukraine is asserting itself as the leader in its region,
we realize our responsibility and are prepared to assume it.
To improve stability in the region and resolve frozen conflicts, Ukraine is
prepared to come up with its own initiatives and work with all partners.
Jointly, we will revive such an organization as GUAM [alliance of Georgia,
Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova], we want to seize every opportunity to
guarantee security for our peoples, using among others cooperation with
NATO. We are prepared for a new level of relations with the alliance. A
few weeks ago, we started our intensified dialogue with NATO in Vilnius.
I would especially like to emphasize that Ukraine's European choice should
be no obstacle to mutually beneficial ties with the rest of our neighbours -
both east and west. This fully applies to our partnership with Russia and
other CIS states. Kiev views Moscow as a good neighbour and reliable
partner with a great potential for cooperation.
I am confident: the development of Ukrainian-Russian mutually beneficial
cooperation is consistent with the interests of not just the two states but
of the whole of Europe.
The obstacles that have emerged on the way to ratify the EU constitution
will not affect our desire to establish European social, economic,
humanitarian or political standards in Ukraine. EU membership is our
strategic aim. The European project which is being implemented before our
eyes is unparalleled in terms of its complexity or importance. Naturally, it
takes efforts and patience on the part of all of its participants.
I am confident that Ukraine is already participating in this process today.
Our road map to the EU is the implementation of the Ukraine-EU action plan,
which was signed on 21 February this year, obtaining market economy status
for the Ukrainian economy in the near future, joining the WTO, beginning
talks on a free trade zone with the EU.
We believe that setting up a free and efficient economy which rewards
initiative and ensures high social standards is the key to success. We want
to see Ukraine integrated with the global economy, capable of participating
in developing its rules, using its resources and meeting challenges to come.
The first steps toward the creation of the new Ukrainian economy have been
taken. The rules of the game in this country are no more determined by
oligarchic clans. The new authorities are pressing ahead with a fight
against corruption, encouraging fair competition and creating transparent
relations between the government and business. Passage omitted: More
praises of the new authorities and the cabinet's social policy.]
UKRAINE'S MACROECONOMIC OBJECTIVES -----
Dear friends, having said this, I would like to stress that we do not forget
our responsibility for maintaining the high level of macroeconomic culture.
GDP will reach 7-8 per cent in 2005. The inflation rate will be around 8 per
cent. We will have balanced payments and foreign trade surplus. We believe
that these and other indicators show that despite the pressure of social
commitments on the state budget Ukraine will have high macroeconomic
culture which guarantees that both domestic and foreign business enjoy
fair conditions in Ukraine.
The objective for the second half of this year is to launch reforms in
vitally important national sectors. They will peak next year. Reforms should
improve the efficiency of the state in key sectors of life in Ukraine,
ensure structural reform in the economy and raise to the European level the
quality of life in Ukraine. The taxation and budget systems, education and
public utility services, the administrative structure and defence will see
fundamental reform.
We offer Ukrainian and international businesses partnership in implementing
reforms to create a modern and competitive economy. We have reasons to
believe that Ukraine is the most attractive for investing. Let me name only
major reasons.
FIRST, Ukraine is close to the EU, it uses European guidelines in its
economic rules and standards. This makes businesses which cooperate
with European companies on European markets especially attractive.
SECOND, Ukraine has high-quality human resources, skilled and highly
motivated workers. I would like to draw your attention to Ukraine's
opportunities to develop aerospace, biological and nano technologies.
Innovation-based development is consistent with our national interests and
we are considering setting up a special agency to boost innovations in terms
of work with investors. I think that our efforts can become a substantial
supplement to the EU's Lisbon strategy to achieve Europe's leading positions
on the global hi-tech market.
THIRD, Ukraine has a great transit potential. Three out of nine
trans-European transport corridors run across Ukraine. The Black Sea can
become a new fuel transit route to Europe, in addition to traditional ones
running across Ukraine.
FOURTH, a list of interesting companies in terms of privatization is far
from being exhausted. I am confident that world business leaders will pay
serious attention to new opportunities in Ukraine. Your participation in the
round table is just another proof to this. We are prepared to open wide
doors for investors. The Ukrainian elephant has waken up, and after it gains
investment strength it will be impossible to stop it.
We are removing unnecessary regulations. The single window principle is
being introduced wherever possible, at the customs and the tax office, to
register business, obtain licenses and permits for construction. It is our
objective to cancel 1,300 regulations in a few days, or about 30 per cent of
the old regulatory policy that we have inherited.
Business can be confident enough to cross out from their budgets expenses
for all sorts of certificates to be issued by state servants. We are
developing Ukraine's investment infrastructure and bringing it into line
with modern requirements. In particular, we are upgrading our securities
market, introducing such testing mechanisms as consolidated stock exchange
and depository systems, the clearing and payment systems, we are amending
laws to protect the rights of portfolio investors and minor shareholders.
We are working on setting up a specialized state institution which should
become a contact address and a pilot for investors. It will be a new
ministry of European integration and foreign economic relations.
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR INVESTORS -----
On my initiative proposed within my remit as head of state and guarantor of
constitutional rights, the heads of the Supreme Council [parliament] and the
Cabinet of Ministers today signed a special memorandum. This document
answers all questions pertaining to the past and the future of Ukrainian
privatization and demonstrates a single agreed stance of the authorities on
this issue. By this the authorities demonstrate their respect for ownership
rights and state that privatization legislation is not and will not be
applied retroactively.
There will be no reprivatization in Ukraine. According to the memorandum,
all ownership disputes will be settled exclusively through court
proceedings. The state will guarantee the independence of judges and
courts.
We will encourage out-of-court settlements of disputes. Privatization will
be continued and stepped up. This is not just a point from a memorandum
which a few minutes ago was signed by the Supreme Council, the president
and the cabinet.
In our willingness to improve the investment climate, we are ready to
propose a list of enterprises which will be opened to investors shortly.
These are Ukrtelekom [state telecom monopoly], the Odessa port plant, the
Kharkiv-based Turboatom [turbine-maker], the Mykolayiv-based Zorya
production association [another turbine-maker], Severodonetsk-based Azot
[chemical works], Luhanskteplovoz [Luhansk-based manufacturer of diesel
railway engines] and others.
The next step will be a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council
to adopt an action plan to encourage investments in the near future, I mean
next Friday [presumably on 24 June]. Until autumn, each region will hold
presentation weeks during which the local authorities will present the most
successful and promising investment projects. This is the objective I set
for the heads of regional state administrations. I want you to put notes
about these events in your diaries.
Ukraine's democratic authorities are establishing the values of the European
civilization in Ukraine. Among them is the great idea that freedom and
wellbeing cannot be separated. The founders of the Ukrainian Cossack state
proclaimed this idea some 350 years ago.
Our great Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyy wrote: we want to confirm all of our
privileges so that goods can be bought, sold and exchanged in all cities in
a free way and according to one's own desire. On the basis of this age-old
wisdom the Ukrainians are prepared to use their minds and hands to ensure
Ukraine's worthy position in the modern world in cooperation with you and
the other peoples.
I wish the forum success. Thank you for your attention. -30-
==============================================================
2. PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO WOOS INVESTORS TO UKRAINE
By Mara D. Bellaby, Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
KIEV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko appealed to
investors to pour money into this former Soviet republic, pledging
that the Orange Revolution's promises of a business-friendly market
economy are irreversible.
"I have grounds to tell you that Ukraine is a very profitable field
for investment," Yushchenko said Thursday, delivering the keynote
speech before six fellow presidents and a hall packed with dozens of
top business leaders.
The two-day conference organized by the World Economic Forum, at
Yushchenko's request, is aimed at showing the world that the nation's
new government remains on a market-oriented path -- even if the
transition has been a bit bumpy.
Yushchenko left the apologizing for some of his government's missteps
to lower officials and instead took on the role of salesman, making an
aggressive and upbeat pitch. He said investors should be attracted by
Ukraine's proximity to the European Union, its highly educated and
professional work force, and its experience in high-technology fields.
"I would like for each person and each country to take this forum as
proof that Ukraine is extending a hand to you," Yushchenko said.
The peaceful Orange Revolution mass protests last year that helped
usher the pro-Western opposition into power captivated the world.
Yushchenko has been feted around the globe, but so far, little new
foreign investment has poured in and the country's economy is slowing.
In what appeared to be a carefully timed move, Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko and Parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn signed a
memorandum Thursday in the presence of Yushchenko that commits
them to uphold property rights.
Yushchenko told investors the memorandum shows that the government's
probes into some of the past decade's murky privatization deals will
not lead toward re-nationalization. Yushchenko also emphasized that
all "quarrels regarding privatization will be solved only by the
court," and he said he supports peaceful settlements with the current
owners.
The first months of the new Ukrainian leadership have left some
investors disappointed -- and confused about the new government's
commitment to a market economy.
First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh admitted before the forum
began that some mistakes have been made.
"Revolution is a very complicated thing, but the test of power is even
more difficult. Now we are at the first stage of that test," said
Kinakh, who also heads a political party for entrepreneurs and
industrialists.
"The Orange Revolution is an unique chance for Ukraine and this chance
won't be wasted," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Rybachuk blamed a government decision
setting price limits on gasoline earlier this year for helping delay a
decision to bestow market economy status on Ukraine.
"The government is obligated not to meddle in price politics ... (but)
you saw that interference," he said -- but added that the lesson was
learned. Yushchenko later ordered his government to let the market
decide prices.
In an acknowledgment of some of the stifling bureaucracy that still
slows investment in Ukraine, Yushchenko told the forum that 1,300
regulatory documents would be canceled. Earlier, officials also
responded to investor complaints about delays in returning value-added
tax on exports by apologizing and saying the government was working
hard to rectify it.
Kinakh also admitted it had been a mistake by the government to scrap
its previous commitment to free economic zones.
Silviu Popovici, general manager of Coca-Cola Beverages, Ukraine,
said the nation has great potential but needs real reforms in its tax,
regulatory and legal systems.
Conference participants were tackling those topics as well as
Ukraine's metals and mining industry, which is the sixth-largest in
the world in production capacity, and agriculture. Ukraine was known
as the bread basket of the Soviet Union because of its rich black soil.
On Friday, participants will discuss relations with the European
Union, which Ukraine wants to join, and with Russia, its giant
neighbor and major trading partner. However, Russian President
Vladimir Putin declined an invitation to attend, said Felix Howald, an
official with the World Economic Forum.
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said that Ukraine's desire to
join Europe should be welcomed. "Ukraine needs Europe, but Europe
also needs Ukraine," he said, citing the countries big market, geographic
position and cultural and historic ties to Europe.
Yushchenko said Russia's push toward the EU remains on the agenda,
but he added "the development of Ukraine and Russia relations is
profitable not only for both of our countries but for the whole of
Europe."
In addition to the Polish president, the presidents of Moldova,
Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia and Azerbaijan also were participating.
===============================================================
3. UKRAINE TO PUSH AHEAD WITH PRIVATIZATION
Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Rybachuk pledges at investment conference
Bloomberg, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
KIEV -- Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Rybachuk pledged that the
government would make it easier for investors to form new businesses
and reiterated plans for selling many state-owned assets to keep the
economy growing.
"We will offer for privatization everything besides really big
strategic companies," Rybachuk said at an investment conference in
Kiev Thursday, without naming any company. "And you all will have
equal chances to buy them."
Ukraine has so far raised 10 percent of 6.9 billion hryvnia that it
has initially planned to receive from assets sales in the entire year,
Finance Minister Viktor Pinzenyk, 51, said in a June 11 interview.
Growth of the near $60 billion economy slowed to 5.4 percent in the
first quarter from 12.3 percent in the same period a year ago as
investments and exports declined.
Rybachuk, 47, said the new government led by President Victor
Yushchenko would ask for advice from business leaders on whether
to limit investigations of asset-sales carried out under the previous
administration.
"We have to decide how we are going to respond to our 'glorious'
past," said Rybachuk. -30-
==============================================================
4. POLAND URGES EU NOT TO CLOSE DOOR TO NEW MEMBERS
Aleksander Kwasniewski speaks in Kyiv at economic forum
By Stefan Wagstyl and Tom Warner in Kiev
Financial Times, London, UK, Thu, June 16 2005
Aleksander Kwasniewski, president of Poland, on Thursday warned fellow
European Union leaders attending the Brussels summit not to bow to public
pressure and close the door on future EU enlargement.
Amid growing concern in western Europe about the Union's eastward expansion,
he said: "I think Europe should keep the doors open. It should be open for
new countries. . . . We need a united Europe in the field of the whole
continent."
Mr Kwasniewski was speaking at an international conference in Kiev organised
by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum, hosted by Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko and attended by four other east European presidents.
The Polish leader was scathing about opinion in France, Germany and the
Netherlands, where the public has expressed doubts about further
enlargement. He said the EU was going through "something like a middle-age
crisis".
"When I see the atmosphere in some European countries, especially among
founders such as France, Germany and Holland, and the atmosphere in our
countries, the new European Union members, the difference is that the
founders are like people after 50 years of marriage and we are still in love
with Europe," he added.
Mr Kwasniewski's support for further enlargement was backed at the
conference by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Estonian
President Arnold Ruutel, albeit in less colourful language.
Mr Yushchenko was more cautious, saying that the problems over the
European constitution would not be an obstacle in Ukraine's pursuit of
European standards or EU membership.
Mr Kwasniewski's views reflect Poland's support for the Union's further
eastward expansion in general and for Ukraine's future membership in
particular. Mr Kwasniewski played a key role in co-ordinating international
support for Mr Yushchenko during the Orange Revolution, the popular revolt
that brought the Ukrainian president to power six months ago. Mr Kwasniewski
said Europe needed Ukraine as much as Ukraine needed Europe.
Joaqún Almunia, the European commissioner for economic affairs, who was
also at the conference, talked about the EU's neighbourhood policy - its
co-operation plan for Ukraine and other countries on the Union's border - as
a catalyst for change in the region. He made no specific reference to
Ukraine's membership hopes, but he did say he would take back to Brussels
"a new vision of Europe" built on the common values of all Europeans,
whether EU members or not. -30-
================================================================
5. FIVE EUROPEAN PRESIDENTS PRAISE UKRAINE AND CALL
FOR A NEW EUROPEAN VISION
Georgian President leads call for democratic transition in Belarus
Mark Adams, World Economic Forum, Communication
World Economic Forum's Ukraine Roundtable
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, June 16, 2005
KYIV - The presidents of five European countries have joined together in
support of the newly democratic Ukraine and its reform programme. At
the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum's Ukraine Roundtable
in Kiev , they called for a new vision of Europe founded on closer ties.
"Ukraine is prepared to ensure its place in the modern world," declared
President Victor Yushchenko to more than 250 participants - the vast
majority of them business leaders - from 32 countries. He outlined the
government's economic and political reform programme to raise the
effectiveness of the state and ensure Ukraine "is the most beneficial
place for investment".
Yushchenko announced new a memorandum on privatizations. "The
parliament and the cabinet have signed a memorandum on privatization
and the authorities recognize private property. There will be no re-
privatizations," he said, promising that it would be left to the legal
system to deal "fairly" with any investigations of past privatizations.
Other reforms on the agenda include fighting corruption; eliminating
unnecessary regulations; upgrading the securities market and social
benefits. "From the youngest to the oldest, our aim in 2005 is that social
benefits would be felt by each Ukrainian citizen. Real income in the first
quarter has grown by 25 percent," Yushchenko said in a keynote address.
The Ukrainian president reiterated the country's strategic goal of European
Union membership. He noted that the "European choice of Ukraine cannot
be an obstacle to relations with Russia... and the development of ties (with
Russia ) is in the interest of all Europe ," he said.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland , Mikheil Saakashvili, President
of Georgia, Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, Arnold Rüütel, President
of Estonia, Vladimir Voronin, President of Moldova all spoke in the plenary
in support of Ukraine 's EU membership bid.
"Ukraine needs Europe, but Europe needs Ukraine ," declared Kwasniewski.
He called on the EU to "keep the doors open to new countries and believe in
the European project and values."
The EU is developing close ties with European states beyond its borders
through its "good neighbourhood" policy, assured Joaquín Almunia,
Commissioner, Economic and Monetary Affairs, European Commission.
The message he will take back to Brussels , he said, is that "we need to
build a common vision of Europe among all Europeans."
The president of Georgia echoed calls for greater European solidarity.
Ukraine and Georgia are two nations that are "proving that democracy in
this part of the world works," Saakashvili said. He drew participants'
attention to Belarus whose population also "deserves to be in a free
democratic society."
"Today we need solidarity for Belarus and hope that soon we can have a
new conference of what we can learn from the Belarus democratic
experience," he said. -30-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization
committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in
partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland,
the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no
political, partisan or national interests. (http://www.weforum.org)
Contact: Mark Adams, Director of Communications
Kyiv Tel.: + 380 44 496 8560, Kyiv Mobile: +380 50 462 8304
Kyiv Fax: + 380 44 496 8595, Tel.: +41 (0)79 615 1671
Fax: +41 (0)22 869 1394; E-mail: mark.adams@weforum.org
http://www.weforum.org
===============================================================
6. POST-REVOLUTION UKRAINE ON DISPLAY AT WORLD FORUM
By Andrew Hurst, Reuters, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
KIEV - Ukraine, its reforms increasingly bogged down six months after the
"Orange Revolution," put its leadership and prospects on display on Thursday
at a meeting attended by half a dozen presidents, economists and businesses.
Ukrainian leader Viktor Yushchenko, catapulted to power last December after
mass protests over poll fraud, wants to allay concerns that promises to
build a transparent economy and democratic society friendly to investors
have stalled. As the World Economic Forum roundtable opened, a senior
minister said the most divisive issue facing Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko's government -- a review of privatizations conducted under
its predecessor -- was the top priority.
"It should be addressed, the sooner the better. This is the question which
concerns most investors," Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Rybachuk told
Reuters. Rybachuk said plans to publish a hit-list of privatizations to go
under review had been dropped and the process would be taken out of
politics and put into the hands of the courts. "How can you publish a list
of enterprises if it is a court's decision?," Rybachuk added.
Analysts say uncertainty on the issue is harming Ukraine's investment
prospects. They also express concern, as the government warily eyes a
parliamentary election next March, over slowing growth and rising govern-
ment spending.
Rybachuk told the meeting's opening session that foreigners had "a fair
and equal chance to participate in privatization. "This is not a Soviet
nomenklatura type of management. This is a new generation and they
are getting more influence in the country."
Yushchenko last month said a list of 29 sell-offs to be reviewed was being
drafted. But no list has been published. The most prominent case concerns
the giant Kryvorizhstal steel mill, sold last year to investors linked to
Kuchma's administration for less than rival offers. Tymoshenko has called
for a tender for a new privatization by the end of the year.
CRITICAL OF PREMIER ---------
Yushchenko, sharply critical of his prime minister in recent weeks, planned
to tell the roundtable his plan to move Ukraine closer to Europe remained
on track.
Fighting corruption remained a top priority. "It is not a smart thing to
build a house on a bog," Yushchenko said in a statement ahead of the Forum.
If we do not free every Ukrainian of this rottenness which has been stored
for years in our subconscious ... we will not be able to build a law-abiding
state and market economy."
Also attending were the presidents of ex-Soviet Georgia and Moldova, both
committed to European integration, and the leaders of Poland, Ukraine's
chief ally in Brussels, and Lithuania.
Yushchenko has linked virtually every policy decision to whether it furthers
a long-term plan to join the European Union. The EU has backed an action
plan calling for an overhaul of legislation, but has given no promises on
membership.
Analysts say the economic outlook has deteriorated. "Ukraine's economic
performance is now far less rosy than it was prior to the election-related
instability in Q4 2004," Credit Suisse-First Boston said in a report this
week.
"Growth has slowed sharply, inflation is stubbornly high and the current
account surplus is falling. Over the past few weeks, the accumulation of
reserves effectively came to a halt."
Yushchenko gave Tymoshenko a dressing down last month after her attempts
to cap fuel prices prompted Russian companies to halt supplies and created l
long queues at the pump. He said he would no longer tolerate measures
violating market principles. But polls show 80 percent backing for the
premier, whose moves have included big pension and public sector pay rises.
Some forum participants remained unconvinced. "There are too many words
and not enough implementation," said Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, head of Kiev's
International Management Institute. "This country could blow a great
opportunity." -30-
===============================================================
7. UKRAINE: PRESIDENT, CABINET, RADA AGREE ON PROPERTY
RIGHTS AND ENSURING LAWFUL REALIZATION
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko, the Cabinet of Ministers and the
Verkhovna Rada have agreed on guarantees for property rights and on
ensuring the lawful realization of these guarantees.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Verkhovna Rada Chairman
Volodymyr Lytvyn signed the memorandum in the presence of President
Viktor Yuschenko, who certified this document with his signature.
It is mentioned in the memorandum that acting in support of the initiatives
of Yuschenko, the Rada and the Cabinet declare their joint readiness to
ensure the general, unconditional and the lawful realization of the property
rights by people, who created the national wealth and might dispense of the
part belonging to them - beginning from the rights to own land and property
plots and housing, and the achievement of a high standard of living on this
basis.
Rada and the Cabinet agreed to act in privatization issues exclusively
within the bounds of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, as well as to
guarantee the rights of owners and a stale property regime, which is a
guarantee of the dynamic development of the economy and formation of
a civil society.
The parliament and the government promise to improve the efficiency of
the work of state institutions in the area of privatization, the formation
and
support of favorable investment climate in the country, to create conditions
for renewing property rights exclusively within the confines of the
Constitution and laws of Ukraine and upon the decision of a court in case
of the establishment of violations in the process of privatization.
Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers plan to aide in settling disputes
pertaining to property rights, including by way of concluding amicable
agreements, to ensure effective control over the privatization process, as
well as to conduct this process effectively, transparently and exclusively
on a competitive basis with respect for the rights and lawful interests of
investors as well as for society.
As Ukrainian News reported previously, Yuschenko initiated the conclusion
of the memorandum.
In the opinion of the President, by signing this document the legislative
and executive branches of government are showing that they will proceed
from the fact that the privatization legislation does not have and will not
have a retroactive effect.
The head of state said that the memorandum will determine Ukrainian
privatization as the key element in creating a modern Ukrainian economy
and will promote its acceleration and conduct on the basis of competition.
Yuschenko later noted in an interview with journalists that he is of the
opinion that the fate of repatriation (returning to Ukraine) of funds from
offshore zones will also depend on the memorandum.
The Cabinet of Ministers is going to adopt the framework for privatization
of government assets, which would envisage the conclusion of strict
agreements between the state and new owners of privatized enterprises.
Yuschenko believes that there is a need to legislatively define the
principles for reviewing the results of privatization. -30-
===============================================================
8.. UKRAINE'S GOVERNMENT: THE VIKTOR AND YULIA SHOW
Six months after the heady “orange revolution”,
what has Ukraine's new government actually achieved?
The Economist, London, UK, Thursday, June 16, 2004
SOME things have changed forever. Many Ukrainians say that, since the
huge street protests last November and December that culminated in Viktor
Yushchenko's victory in the presidential election on December 26th, they are
much freer. The new government's critics, unlike the old one's, happily give
their names to journalists.
There have been more tangible advances: some businesses have been
corralled out of the shadow economy, boosting tax and customs receipts,
and helping to pay for higher pensions and public-sector wages. But there
have also been disappointments-and not all were inevitable.
Amid all his rhetoric about driving the bandits out of government, Mr
Yushchenko made a few specific pledges. One was to review the dodgiest
of the privatisations done by his predecessor. The Ukrainian (and a few
Russian) owners of the likely targets have, predictably, resisted. But
prevarication by Mr Yushchenko and his prime minister, Yulia Timoshenko,
is more surprising.
The number of firms, the criteria for choosing them and the mechanics of
re-privatisation are all unclear. The government hoped to give investors
more clarity at a World Economic Forum meeting in Kiev this week, but the
impression of incompetence will linger.
Another imperative should have been to allay anxieties about a Yushchenko
presidency in southern and eastern Ukraine, which overwhelmingly backed
his rival, Viktor Yanukovich. Mr Yanukovich's supporters still cannot muster
the verve of Kiev's orange-clad masses in the winter snows. But in Donetsk,
at least, resentment of Mr Yushchenko persists.
The east's suspicions were sharpened by the arrest in April of Boris
Kolesnikov over the allegedly violent takeover of a Donetsk department
store. Mr Kolesnikov is an ally of Mr Yanukovich, and of Rinat Akhmetov,
Ukraine's richest man, who jointly controls a big steel mill that is a
candidate for re-privatisation.
Nobody thinks Mr Kolesnikov is a saint; but his detention is seen as a show
of power against the eastern oligarchs. In Russian-speaking Donetsk, Mr
Yushchenko's talk of cleaning up government sounds disingenuous. When
asked if the new regime is as corrupt as the old, one Donetsk businessman
says: "not yet, but it will be soon."
There have been sins of commission too, especially on economic policy.
"They've been screwing up," comments one western diplomat in Kiev. The
most egregious example came when Ms Timoshenko-a formidable
revolutionary, but a rash prime minister-imposed price caps on fuel,
alleging an anti-Ukrainian conspiracy by Russian energy firms.
Predictably, this measure led to fuel shortages. Mr Yushchenko's
intervention to remove the caps provoked a contretemps; the president was
rumoured to have suggested that the prime minister might consider resigning.
Other missteps include a failure to pass the measures needed to get Ukraine
into the World Trade Organisation.
To some, Mr Yushchenko's bigger goal-to get Ukraine into the European
Union-looks imperilled by the recent French and Dutch referendums. But that
gloomy view rests on an overly optimistic premise. However enthusiastic the
West is about Mr Yushchenko, EU membership was always a long way off.
Relations with Russia, meanwhile, have been civil but fragile.
The need to preserve civility may explain why the poisoning that debilitated
Mr Yushchenko during the election campaign, and scars him still, has not yet
been publicly solved: some sort of Russian connection is widely assumed in
Kiev. The solution of another infamous mystery-the murder of Georgi
Gongadze, a journalist, in 2000-has been hampered by the inconvenient
deaths of key witnesses.
Revolutions may change governments, but they cannot instantly transform a
country. And Mr Yushchenko should not be blamed for some of Ukraine's most
intractable problems. The biggest, as in most post-Soviet countries, is
corruption. Some businessmen say things are improving, albeit confusingly.
"Six months ago I knew who, when, how much," says one Russian visitor to
Donetsk. "Now I don't."
Petro Oliynyk, the new governor of the Lvov region, says that 200 of the
local tax administration's 3,000 employees have been replaced. But the
clean-up has had unintended consequences: post-revolution bribes are said to
have gone up, thanks to a risk premium added by unreconstructed mid-level
officials.
"We could make a book of taxation jokes," says Yaroslav Rushchyshyn, a
pro-Yushchenko Lvov businessman. The beautiful city of Lvov is still
crumbling; as Ukraine's growth slows, many young people from the country-
side around it prefer to work illegally over the border than earn a pittance
at home.
If some of the disappointments of Mr Yushchenko's short tenure can be put
down to inflated expectations after last year's drama, others stem from the
exigencies of the revolution. Various bits of the alliance that propelled Mr
Yushchenko to the presidency had to be paid back with government offices.
The result has been contradictions and cleavages, both ideological-eg,
between the economic liberals and the socialist who oversees the state
property fund-and personal. A sub-plot to the Timoshenko-Yushchenko
tension has been Ms Timoshenko's rivalry with Petro Poroshenko, a
businessman-politician who wanted to be prime minister but became
head of the national security and defence council instead.
Parliamentary elections next March are exacerbating tendencies to populism.
Under a reform agreed last December, some powers are due to shift from
president to parliament and prime minister, though this change may yet be
repudiated. After the elections, will the president and-if she is still in
office-Ms Timoshenko learn from their mistakes and vindicate the orange
revolution? Both remain popular. And Ukrainians have learnt to be patient.
But Mr Yushchenko must be steelier if he is to overcome the corrupt,
fractious pathologies of Ukrainian politics. -30-
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http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4079555
===============================================================
9. FRENCH BREAKTHROUGH OF UKRAINE'S "IRON LADY"
On June 12-14, the Ukrainian government delegation headed by Premier
Yulia Tymoshenko visited France. A week prior to that, Secretary of the
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko
visited Paris to hold negotiations with his French colleague.
By Viktor Zamyatin
Business and Socio-Political Weekly
Kyiv Weekly, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
On June 22, President Viktor Yushchenko has planned an official visit to
France. From the outside this sequence of visits looks like a real Ukrainian
descent on France, but in reality it is difficult to what it represents,
particularly taking into account the obvious difference in views of
Tymoshenko and Poroshenko, which in some cases is a competition for
influence and power, and in others simply the aversion in relations between
the two.
In any case, Ukraine's premier did everything possible in Paris to give the
impression that President Yushchenko and Tymoshenko act as one team.
The statements she made to the press and certainly did not contradict the
statements of the president. The premier described her relations with
Yushchenko as excellent. Though she affirmed their relations will last for
more than a decade, she did say that they disagree on certain issues.
The success of the premier's visit can be assessed by the documents
signed at the level of governments and specific companies. But the best
illustration of the successful visit is its wide coverage in the local
press. Despite that during Tymoshenko's visit French television and
newspapers dedicated their stories to the release of a French journalist
from captivity in Iraq, the honorable guest from Ukraine was given nearly
equal attention.
Moreover, this was the first official visit of the new Ukrainian premier
abroad. In connection with this, the demonstrative refusal of Tymoshenko
to travel to Moscow following an equally resonant statement of Russia's
prosecutor general that the criminal case of the premier is not closed in
Russia comes to mind.
Meanwhile, France is known not only for traditionally friendly relations
with Russia, but also for its unwillingness to have such developed relations
with other post-Soviet countries. Moscow is hiding the fact that when talks
are held regarding its right to enjoy a predominant influence over the
former republics of the Soviet Union, it practically always finds support in
Paris. For these reasons and perhaps some others, France had always
torpedoed Ukraine's aspirations of European integration.
Tymoshenko stated in the French capital "we will not overcome" such
opposition by political means. "But we will develop economic cooperation
step by step. We will develop it until the moment we can enter through all
of Europe's doors," the premier told a meeting with representatives of the
Ukrainian Diaspora in Paris.
The premier returned with 11 drafts of bilateral documents. As a result, the
agreement about the development of technical cooperation between Naftogas
Ukrainy and Gaz de France were signed. As far as it is known, the
conversation between the general managers of the two companies was about
the potential entry of Gaz de France into the gas transport consortium, the
establishment of which is at the moment quite controversial due to the
unwillingness of the Russian side to see EU representatives among the
founders of the consortium.
Besides that, DerzhAvtoDor of Ukraine (State Highway Service) received
an investment proposal worth 7 bn euro from two large French companies
for the construction of highways from different Ukrainian cities to the
western borders of the country and their usage on concession rights for
40 years.
Tymoshenko assessed the agreement on cooperation with the European
Aeronautic Defense and Space Company as being of key importance.
Taking into account the fact France is the EU leader in the aircraft manu
facturing industry this was probably a sound assessment. Considering
also that it is the only "aerospace country" in the EU.
Interestingly enough, it was thanks to the efforts of France under the
previous government in Ukraine that the countries of Western Europe turned
down back in 2000 an opportunity to jointly produce a cargo plane on the
basis of the Ukrainian-built AN-70 aircraft. In any case, this latest
establishment of cooperation can drastically change the state of Ukraine's
aircraft manufacturing and space industries.
Meanwhile, the agreement with the Sagem DS company on the modernization
of helicopters, which was also signed during the premier's visit to France,
can be rightfully be called a huge success.
In addition, agreements on cooperation in the nuclear energy sector were
also reached. By the way, about 75% of French energy is produced at nuclear
power plants. The two sides also agreed to cooperate in the agriculture,
hotel business and railway transport sectors. Incidentally, it was precisely
in these sectors of the economy that Poland began to achieve "success in
Europe".
According to Tymoshenko, in the course of the Paris negotiations she
received EU support for Ukraine's intentions of joining the World Trade
Organization by the end of this year and receiving the status of a country
with a market economy.
So, it appears that the head of Ukraine's government has established good
relations with France's new Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.
Interestingly, this experienced diplomat was earlier known as a supporter of
the "pro-Russian" political direction.
In conclusion, the visit of the Ukrainian premier to France can be assessed
both as a success and a demonstration of the premier's diplomatic skills and
abilities to make serious international decisions. It only remains to be
seen how well Yushchenko does in France. -30--
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LINK: http://www.kyivweekly.com/english/article/?751
===============================================================
10. MONEY NEWS
IMF experts believe prices in Ukraine will grow by almost 15%
Kyiv Weekly, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
IMF BECOMING FLEXIBLE -----
By the end of the year, prices in Ukraine will grow by almost 15%, experts
of the International Monetary Fund believe. They disagreed with the
Ukrainian government, which forecast inflation at the level of 9.8%. The IMF
also believes that Ukraine could be heading towards an economic crisis.
In order to prevent it, the IMF advised the Cabinet of Ministers to attract
investments more actively and fill the budget. It also advised the NBU to
activate monetary policy and make the exchange rate more flexible.
JUST STAY CALM -----
Ukrainian bankers believe that the rate of euro to the dollar will stay the
same at least until September. They forecast that the value of Ukraine's
currency will also remain stable. Gold and currency reserves of the NBU will
allow for holding the rate at Hr 5.05/US $1.00 until the end of the summer.
Experts have also predicted a continued drop in interest rates. The reason
is that supply exceeds demand.
Indeed, Ukrainians borrow less frequently, while banks continue to lower
their rates. Since the beginning of the year, interest rates on loans in the
national currency dropped by almost 2% to 15.5%.
EXPERIMENT GONE AWRY -------
The National Bank of Ukraine broke a record in terms of the distrust towards
it on the part of Ukrainians. Today, only 39% have a positive attitude
towards the NBU.
This is the lowest indicator in all the years of independence. Experts
explain the situation by the "latest experiments on the people". In the most
difficult times, the NBU was always capable of finding a solution to
problems. Now, for the first time in years, it has began increasingly losing
the trust of Ukrainians.
SPEND WISELY -------
Deputy Finance Minister Vitaliy Lysovenko announced that Ukraine is
developing a more detailed system of issuing municipal bonds in conjunction
with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. "There are
plans to expand this market, but at the same time leave certain
restrictions," he said.
Lysovenko also pointed out that today, special attention is being paid to
training people on the municipal level. Financial directors and governors
are undergoing such training. The deputy minister emphasized, "The key is
not to spend money on the immediate settlement of issues, but view them as
investment programs." -30-
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LINK: http://www.kyivweekly.com/english/article/?758
===============================================================
11. FREEDOM HOUSE NOTES DEMOCRACY REINVIGORATION
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, June 16, 2005
Freedom House, the U.S. non-government organization, notes democracy
reinvigoration in Ukraine. This follows from the organization's Nations in
Transit 2005 report, a copy of which is available to Ukrainian News. The
ratings of the report are based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 representing
the highest level and 7 the lowest level of democratic development.
In the general democracy score Ukraine received 4.5 points compared to
4.88 points in the report of 2004. According to the report, Ukraine has
experienced the highest level of democracy since 1999. In the Electoral
Process rating Ukraine scored 3.5 compared to 4.25 in the last year's
report.
Under the Civil Society scale the country received 3 points compared to 3.75
in 2004. In the Independent Media rating Ukraine scored 4.75 versus 5.5 last
year.
Ukraine experienced progress in National Democratic Governance rating (5
points compared to 5.25 in 2004), however maintained the Local Democratic
Governance rating at 5.25 points. The Judicial Framework & Independence
rating of Ukraine grew to 4.25 points compared to 4.75 in 2004. However,
Ukraine kept Corruption rating at 5.75.
According to the organization, Ukraine showed the most significant progress
of any country covered in the report. "Ukraine's trend of national
development was changed dramatically in late 2004, when people voted for
democratic changes and after massive fraud in the second voting efficiently
protected their choice in peaceful rallies..." the report reads.
According to the report, Russia, like in 2004, experiences the greatest
decline in democracy (5.61 against 5.25 in 2004).
The 2005 ratings reflect the period January 1 through December 31, 2004.
Nations in Transit, published annually by Freedom House, is the only
comprehensive, comparative, multidimensional study focusing on former
Communist states. This year the report covers 29 countries.
As Ukrainian News reported earlier, in its Nations in Transit 2004 report
Freedom House noted democracy weakening in Ukraine in 2004.
Freedom House is a Washington-based nongovernmental organization
that implements programs in support of democracy, freedom of speech,
protection of human rights, and market economy. -30-
===============================================================
12. POLL SHOWS TWO-THIRDS OF UKRAINIANS SUPPORT JOINING EU
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 16 Jun 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Jun 16, 2005
KIEV - More than two-thirds of Ukrainian citizens polled by the Institute
for Social and Political Psychology of the Academy of Pedagogical
Sciences are ready to support the country's EU accession in a referendum.
This is evident from the results of a survey conducted 3-10 May among 1,217
respondents aged over 18, the institute's director, Mykola Slyusarevskyy,
said at a news conference in Kiev today.
He said that if a referendum on Ukraine's EU accession were held, 69.3 per
cent of those likely to take part would vote for, and 30.7 per cent would
vote against.
He also said that the number of supporters of Ukraine's EU accession was
somewhat higher 18 months ago. In November 2003, 74.8 per cent of those
who would take part in a referendum would vote for, and 25.2 per cent
against. The survey was conducted in 370 cities, towns and villages. The
margin of error was 2.5 per cent. -30-
===============================================================
13. UKRAINIAN PUBLIC WATER COMPANY IN DNIPROPETROVSK TO
RECEIVE 20M EURO EBRD LOAN TO MODERNIZE ITS
WATER-SUPPLY NETWORK
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 1358 gmt 9 Jun 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Jun 09, 2005
DNIPROPETROVSK - Dnipropetrovsk mayor Ivan Kulychenko and European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development [EBRD] director Thomas Meyer
have agreed on the provision of a 20m euro loan to the communal production
company Dniprovodokanal [Dnipro water].
The press service of Dnipropetrovsk city council told Interfax-Ukraine that
the loan agreement between the EBRD and Dnipropetrovsk and the
guarantee agreement between the EBRD and the city council were signed
today.
In line with the loan agreement, Dniprovodokanal will receive the 20m euro
loan for 13 years. "This will allow the company to modernize its
water-supply network, which will significantly reduce costs, while the
public will be supplied with quality water," the press service said, noting
that one of the conditions of the agreement is that the EBRD will monitor
how the money is spent. [Passage omitted: details] -30-
===============================================================
14. UKRAINE: GAS INDEPENDENCE DREAM
Tatyana Stanovaya, RIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Fri, June 17, 2005
MOSCOW - Ukraine is planning to raise the question of liquidating the gas
consortium, which was established in 2002 with the blessing of the Russian
and Ukrainian presidents and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Talks are currently underway with Turkmenistan on a direct purchase of
Turkmenian gas and on laying a pipeline that would bypass Russia. It is
obvious, however, that it would be impossible to go through with these
plans, at least in the near future. The gas consortium got a second wind in
August 2004, when Ukraine was getting ready for its presidential elections.
The Russian president, understanding that the future successor of the then
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma needed Moscow's support, insisted on
Ukraine's signing the most important documents on the gas consortium and on
the Common Economic Space project. The gas consortium, which provides for
building a gas pipeline between Bogorodchany and Uzhgorod, gives Gazprom
the possibility to control the export of gas, which has been known to
disappear from time to time in Ukraine.
After Viktor Yushchenko came to power, Ukraine faced the need to get rid
of its excessive gas dependence on Russia. A telling example is the
Ukrainian government's attempt to make Russian oil companies sell
gasoline at lower prices. There are numerous ways of pressure on Russian
business: inspections by controlling agencies, a risk of instituting
criminal proceedings, suspicions of violating antitrust legislation and
others types of administrative manipulation. It is more difficult in the gas
industry, as Ukraine, to its chagrin, has no chance of coming to terms with
Gazprom by using the same methods.
It was therefore decided to look for alternative ways. As is known, Gazprom
supplies Turkmen gas to Ukraine. By purchasing gas in Turkmenistan directly
or, better still, laying a pipeline bypassing Russia, Ukraine might have a
shot at independence if it weren't for one problem. Turkmen President
Saparmurat Niyazov promised it would sell almost all Turkmen gas to Russia.
But at the same time, during the recent talks with Yushchenko, he expressed
readiness to sign a gas contract with Ukraine as well.
However, Niyazov has his own "economy". Turkmen gas supplied directly to
Ukraine will cost more than delivering it via Russia. Turkmenistan has big
problems in relations with the West, which has accused Niyazov of
dictatorial ways, human rights violations and suppressing the opposition.
After the wave of "color revolutions", the regimes unaffected by them have
swung towards Russia. This is evident from statements by Uzbekistani and
Kazakh leaders.
As for Turkmenistan, it cannot but be friends with Russia. If the opposition
becomes active in the republic, the West, as well as Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili, whom the West sees as a guarantor of democracy in the
post-Soviet space, will surely support opponents of the Niyazov regime. And
even a potential gas contract with Ukraine will not allow the latter to
stand up for Niyazov. Understanding this, Niyazov is maneuvering cautiously
between Ukraine and Russia.
It was not without reason that, instead of expressing gratitude to
Yushchenko for awarding him the Order of St. Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 5th
grade, he accused Ukrainian companies late in May of overstating the prices
of work and equipment in the investment projects in Turkmenistan.
Nevertheless, reliance on Turkmenistan gave the Ukrainian government a
chance to propose the liquidation of the gas consortium. As Alexei Ivchenko,
who heads the Naftogaz Ukrainy company, said, it is inexpedient to establish
a consortium for using Ukraine's existing gas supply system. He said no
outside investments were needed to maintain it in a working regime. "The gas
transportation system will be only Ukrainian and only state-owned. We can
invite new partners only for carrying out new projects," he said.
Gazprom responded by announcing that the prospect of the consortium's
liquidation was quite real, and presented a bill for 7.8 billion rubles to
Ukraine for an allegedly stolen amount of gas. It also proposed to give up
barter trade in transactions with Ukraine and switch to trade on market
principles and supply gas at European prices.
The move was a success and Ukraine asked Russia practically immediately to
preserve the former gas transit terms. The stolen gas was also found at
once. So, refusal to join the consortium appeared to be an all too expensive
pleasure for Ukraine. Turkmenistan, too, was given an unambiguous signal: on
June 7, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom's Board Alexander Ryazanov expressed
doubts that Turkmenistan had the declared gas reserves.
At the same time Ukraine's problem is not only to find an alternative source
of gas. There is no common opinion in Yushchenko's team on what the
consortium's future should be. The government and Naftogaz Ukrainy have
taken a radical stance on the issue. The consortium must be liquidated and a
new deal should be made from scratch, with Germany and France invited to
participate, said Alexander Gudyma, a parliament member close to Premier
Timoshenko and chairman of the subcommittee for the gas industry.
The Yushchenko's position is more moderate. He said in March that a possible
establishment of a consortium with Turkmenistan should not be an alternative
to the Russian-Ukrainian gas consortium. Pyotr Poroshenko, chairman of the
Council for National Security and Defense and a long-time opponent of
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, expressed his view in more
definite terms.
He said a liquidation of the consortium set up for the management and
development of Ukraine's gas transportation system would not be in the
interests of either Russia or Ukraine. All this gives Moscow room for
maneuvering. -30-- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tatyana Stanovaya is a leading expert of the Center of Political
Technologies' analytical department.
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LINK: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050616/40535430.html
===============================================================
15. POLAND: UKRAINIANS WANT 24 JUNE TO MARK "POLISH-UKRAINIAN
RECONCILIATION ACCORDING TO PRESIDENT KWASNIEWSKI
PAP news agency, Warsaw, in Polish 1636 gmt 16 Jun 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Jun 16, 2005
KIEV - The Ukrainian side wants the [ceremonial] opening of the Orleta
[Polish war] Cemetery in Lviv [western Ukraine] on 24 June to be a great
ceremony of Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation, President Aleksander
Kwasniewski assessed after his Thursday [16 June] meeting with
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
"There is full readiness on the Ukrainian side. I must say that on the part
of the president and his collaborators there is full understanding, and a
desire for this to be a great ceremony of Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation,"
stated Kwasniewski, who is in Kiev on a one-day visit.
Asked whether he will lay flowers together with Yushchenko during the
ceremony in Lviv not just at the Polish graves but also at Ukrainian ones,
the president responded: "I think that yes. I don't want to talk about the
detailed programme at this moment, because I don't have it in my head,
but we will certainly do everything for the sensitivities of both sides to
be respected as much as possible, not just our Polish sensitivities, but
the Ukrainian ones as well."
"We will be there together (with Yushchenko - PAP editorial note) and we
want all the details to be discussed, for this truly to be a great meeting
of Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation and for it not to be disrupted by any
considerations of an organizational nature," said the president.
In his view, the preparations for the ceremonies "are already so far
advanced" that at this moment the discussions are rather about "bringing
this to a good conclusion, reviewing it so that there not be any
difficulties for the participants in this event coming from Poland."
On Monday [13 June], Lviv councillors agreed that the ceremonial opening
of the Lviv cemetery should take place on 24 June in the presence of
Kwasniewski and Yushchenko.
They also agreed that the hitherto disputed inscription on the central
monument of the cemetery should read: "Here lies a Polish soldier who fell
for his country." They decided, however, that an inscription should be
placed over the main entrance: "Here lie Ukrainian and Polish soldiers who
died in the Ukrainian-Polish war in the years 1918-19."
Adjacent to the Orleta Cemetery is a cemetery of soldiers from the Ukrainian
Galician Army who fought with the Poles in the 1918-19 war.
In their adopted resolution, the councillors gave consent to the
[re]placement at the Orleta Cemetery of monuments to American airmen and
French soldiers, with the inscriptions: "To the Americans who died in the
struggle for Poland in the years 1919-20" and "To the Frenchmen who died
for Poland in the years 1919-20." -30-
===============================================================
16. OUR INCOMPREHENSIBLE "ORANGE" NEIGHBOR
What opinion polls reveal about Russian-Ukrainian relations
Public opinion in Russia and Ukraine, usually very similar and
largely Soviet-shaped, differs greatly when it comes to perceptions
of each other, perceptions of politics, and assessments of what has
happened in Ukraine over the past year, known as "the Orange
Revolution."
By Nikolai Popov, Novoe Vremya No. 23
Moscow, Russia, Monday, June 13, 2005
Relations between Russia and Ukraine are going through another
endurance test period. The two peoples - more alike than any other
two peoples in ethnic and historical terms - are having mixed
feelings about each other, friendly yet suspicious, with one side
accusing its neighbors of nationalism and selfishness, and the other
responding with accusations of great power chauvinism and
imperialist ambitions. Public opinion in Russia and Ukraine, usually
very similar and largely Soviet-shaped, differs greatly when it
comes to perceptions of each other, perceptions of politics, and
assessments of what has happened in Ukraine over the past year,
known as "the Orange Revolution."
First of all, both Russian and Ukrainian respondents are
equally critical of the state of the economy in their own countries.
Only 11% of respondents in Russia and Ukraine describe the economic
situation as very good or good; the overwhelming majority (87% in
Russia and 84% in Ukraine) describe it as poor or mediocre. Besides
sharing this gloomy assessment of general economic conditions,
respondents in both countries agree on the most serious problems in
their societies: poverty and low wages (47% in Russia and 60% in
Ukraine); inflation (45% in Russia and 49% in Ukraine); and
unemployment (37% in Russia, 53% in Ukraine).
Around a third of respondents in both countries describe the
situation of their own families as "poverty." These assessments are
slightly more positive in Ukraine than in Russia, even though
official statistics show average per capita income in Russia as
somewhat higher than in Ukraine.
But these similar living conditions produce some differences in
collective consciousness. First of all, Ukrainians aren't as
apathetic about politics as Russians: 71% of respondents in Ukraine
say they are interested in politics to some extent, while only 49%
of respondents in Russia say the same.
And the further we go into politics, the greater the
differences. Over the past year, Russian media outlets and
politicians have convinced ordinary Russian citizens that the change
of government in Ukraine was an American plot and indisputably
damaging to Russia. For example, when respondents in Russia and
Ukraine were asked what they think of the events of autumn 2004 -
"generally known as the Orange Revolution" - the results were as
follows: 21% of respondents in Russia and 9% in Ukraine called it a
normal presidential election; 18% of respondents in Russia and 29%
in Ukraine said it was a replacement of Leonid Kuchma's corrupt
regime; 7% of respondents in Russia and 18% in Ukraine described it
as a victory of democratic forces over the oligarchs; 38% of
respondents in Russia and 24% in Ukraine viewed these events as a
victory for forces associated with the West and the United States.
Based on the same reasoning, 50% of Russian respondents say
that Viktor Yushchenko's win in the presidential election is not in
line with Russia's interests, while 28% say that his victory is in
Russia's interests. Then again, respondents in both countries agree
that the change of government in Ukraine won't have any substantial
impact on the nature of Russian-Ukrainian relations. Eleven percent
of respondents in Russia and 17% in Ukraine say that bilateral
relations will improve; 46% of respondents in Russia and 38% in
Ukraine say relations will remain unchanged; 26% of respondents in
Russia and 23% in Ukraine say relations will deteriorate.
Evaluations of the two presidents, Viktor Yushchenko and
Vladimir Putin, during Putin's March visit to Ukraine, also revealed
some marked differences in political perceptions. Overall, most
Ukrainian respondents say they trust Putin; but most Russian
respondents don't trust Yushchenko. The figures are as follows: 19%
of respondents in Russia and 54% in Ukraine trust Yushchenko, while
56% and 29% respectively don't trust him; 69% of respondents in
Russia and 48% in Ukraine trust Putin, while 28% and 29%
respectively don't trust him.
Views on friendly and non-friendly countries are also
strikingly different. Most of the Ukrainian respondents, 61%, view
Russia as their country's greatest friend. Only 11% of respondents
in Russia use that description for Ukraine; it ranks third after
Belarus and Germany. However, respondents in both countries agree in
identifying the United States as the nation whose policies "cause
the greatest concern" (42% of respondents in Ukraine, 41% in
Russia). Ukrainian respondents (13%) ranked Russia second in that
regard, while only 3% of Russian respondents named Ukraine as a
source of concern. So they love us and fear us, while we don't seem
to take any notice of them. -30-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Translated by Andrei Ryabochkin
===============================================================
17. WHAT HAMPERS INTEGRATION IN POST-SOVIET AREA
Izvestia [from RIA Novosti's digest of the Russian press]
Moscow, Russia, Wed, June 15, 2005
Ukraine wants to join the European Union, and for this reason joining
Russia in a Common Economic Space may not be of great interest to it.
This position was expressed yesterday by experts at the international
conference "The West and Integration in the CIS." Russian officials
responded by proposing their own ideas of why our neighbors need
the CIS.
The representatives of the authorities tried to convince those present at
the conference that all is compatible with everything. There is no
contradiction between accession to the EU and CIS membership, said,
Dmitry Sukhoparov, director of the international cooperation department
at the Industry and Energy Ministry, who is one of the chief "guardians" of
Eurasian integration in the government of Russia.
Europe accounts for over a half of Russia's commodity circulation, "it is
our natural partner," but the CIS countries "are our even more natural
partners."
As for the idea of establishing a common economic area (CES), it
appeared for "joining the integration process in Ukraine and at its
request." Since the agreements drawn up in the CES framework are
to be based on European norms, by ratifying them the CIS countries
bring their legislation closer to the European one.
Vladimir Tkachenko, deputy chief of the department for trade talks at the
Economic Development Ministry, shares the optimism of his colleague. In his
view, there is no rivalry between "European" and "Eurasian" integration
simply because, for the time being, unification with Europe does not really
take place. But, as a result of accession to the WTO, problems may arise in
the post-Soviet territory, because various CIS countries are joining the
WTO on different terms. Ukraine, for instance, is going fully to cancel the
duties for the import of civil aircraft, something that Russia can never do.
Analysis shows that the differences in the terms of WTO entry between
Russia and Ukraine may require mutual compensations in the amount of
about 1% of trade turnover between the two countries.
But problems may appear in regard to political decisions. As it was stated
by State Duma deputy Alexander Lebedev, "phobias, stereotypes and follies
prevail over the real economic processes in the CIS, especially in Ukraine."
===============================================================
18. "ABSURD BLASPHEMY!" SAYS RUSSIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS
WHILE POST-SOVIET BALTIC COUNTRIES PRESENT THEMSELVES
AS ONLY VICTIMS OF STALINIST ATROCITIES
Interview with Konstantin Kosachev, International Affairs Committee
State Duma, Russia's lower parliamentary house
RIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Tue, June 14, 2005
MOSCOW - Post-Soviet Baltic countries are presenting themselves as
the only victims of Stalinist deportations. That is blasphemous from the
historical point, and absurd from the point of present-day politics,
Konstantin Kosachev said in a RIA Novosti interview.
He leads the international affairs committee at the State Duma, Russia's
lower parliamentary house.
His interview was dedicated to an anniversary of the start of prewar mass
deportations, whose victims the post-Soviet Baltic countries are mourning.
Those Stalinist atrocities "certainly have no vindication. They were among
the most heinous crimes of the regime. But then, they were part of dire
developments within one country, and so they were crimes the regime was
perpetrating against the population of its own country-not one country's
crimes against another. Deportations came in a horrible wave to sweep
other ethnic entities, too-Russians being no exception."
Proportionately to their population, the three present-day Baltic countries
did not suffer worse than other ethnic entities within the Soviet Union.
"This does not mean there's room for comparison-whatever comparisons
made in that context are shockingly out of place. We ought to treat those
developments as a past tragedy we all shared. There is no way to settle a
score with the culprits' offspring now.
"Ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Georgians and others were involved in the
reprisals-representatives of the Baltic peoples, too. They were active in
the Soviet secret services."
The parliamentarian went on to comment statements Lithuanian and Estonian
political activists made on this day of mourning. "A big political gamble
is on. It is tied in with present-day Russian relations with the
post-Soviet Baltic countries. Attempts are made to pile on contemporary
Russia the greatest possible number of accusations, many of which concern
the past."
As for the alleged military occupation of the three Baltic countries by the
Soviet Union, "the matter has no legal prospects at all.
Characteristically, the Lithuanian top is fully aware of that point. Thus,
the Lithuanian parliament passed a bill on compensations back in 2000-but
Lithuania's president has not signed it to this day, so the document has
not come into juridical force."
As the Russian parliamentarian added, "Moscow, too, can come up with
counterclaims, but we don't think we shall be right to do so, or the two
parties may get drowned in a pool of mutual claims." -30-
===============================================================
19. NEW SIGHT IN CHERNOBYL'S DEAD ZONE: TOURISTS
By C. J. Chivers, The New York Times
New York, New York, Wed, June 15, 2005
PRIPYAT, Ukraine, June 11 - Sometime after visiting the ruins of the
Polissia Hotel, the darkened Energetic theater and the idled Ferris wheel,
the minivans stopped again. Doors slid open. Six young Finnish men
stepped out and followed their guide through a patch of temperate jungle
that once was an urban courtyard.
Branches draped down. Mud squished underfoot. A cloud of mosquitoes
rose to the feast. The men stepped past discarded gas-mask filters to the
entrance of a ghostly kindergarten. They fanned out with cameras, to work.
Much was as the children and their teachers had left it 19 years ago. Tiny
shoes littered the classroom floor. Dolls and wooden blocks remained on
shelves. Soviet slogans exhorted children to study, to exercise, to prepare
for a life of work.
Much had also changed. Now there is rot, broken windows, rusting bed
frames and paint falling away in great blisters and peels. And now there are
tourists, participating in what may be the strangest vacation excursion
available in the former Soviet space: the packaged tour of the Chernobyl
exclusion zone, scene of the worst civilian disaster of the nuclear age.
A 19-mile radius around the infamous power plant, the zone has largely been
closed to the world since Chernobyl's Reactor No. 4 exploded on April 26,
1986, sending people to flight and exposing the Communist Party as an
institution wormy with hypocrisy and lies.
For nearly 20 years it has been a dark symbol of Soviet rule. Its name
conjures memories of incompetence, horror, contamination, escape and
sickness, as well as the party elite's disdain for Soviet citizens, who were
called to parade in fallout on May Day while the leaders' families secretly
fled.
Now it is a destination, luring people in. "It is amazing," said Ilkka
Jahnukainen, 22, as he wandered the empty city here that housed the
plant's workers and families, roughly 45,000 people in all. "So dreamlike
and silent."
The word Chernobyl also long ago became a dreary, shopworn joke,
shorthand for contaminated wasteland. But Chernobylinterinform, the
zone's information agency, says its chaperoned tours do not carry health
risks.
This is because, the agency says, radiation levels here have always been
uneven. And most of the zone is far cleaner than it was in 1986, when
radiation levels were strong enough in places to kill even trees.
A lethal exposure of radiation ranges from 300 to 500 roentgens an hour;
levels in the tour areas vary from 15 to several hundred microroentgens an
hour. A microroentgen is one-millionth of a roentgen. Dangers at these
levels, the agency says, lie in long-term exposure.
Still, the zone in northern Ukraine has much more radioactive spots than
those where tourists typically go. So there are rules, which Yuriy
Tatarchuk, a government interpreter who served as the Finns' guide, listed.
Don't stray. Stay on concrete and asphalt, where exposure risks are lower
than on soil. Don't touch anything. (This one proved impossible. Tours
involve climbing cluttered staircases and stepping through debris. Hand-
holds are inevitable.)
No matter its inconveniences or potential for medical worry, the zone
possesses the allure of the forbidden and a promise of rare, personal
insights into history. Its popularity as a destination is increasing. Few
tourists came in 2002, the year it opened for such visits, according to
Marina Polyakova, of Chernobylinterinform. In 2004 about 870 arrived, she
said, a pace tourists are matching this year.
Tourists cannot wander the zone on their own. One-day group excursions cost
$200 to $400, including transportation and a meal. The tour on Saturday
began with a drive through meadows, marshes and forest, belts of green
broken by glimpses of gap-roofed houses and crumbling barns.
It is what Mary Mycio, a Ukrainian-American lawyer in Kiev and author of a
soon-to-be released book, "Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl,"
calls a "radioactive wilderness," an accidental sanctuary populated by
wolves, boars and endangered birds. Its beauty cannot be overstated.
Soon reminders of the grim history appeared. The tour stopped at a graveyard
of vehicles and helicopters used to fight Chernobyl's fires.
Roughly 2,000 radioactive machines are parked here - fire trucks,
ambulances, armored vehicles, trucks, aircraft. Two tourists slipped through
the barbed wire and wandered the junkyard, taking pictures for a Web site
they plan to make of the trip. The rest roamed the edge, awed. "I cannot
find words," said Juha Vaittinen, 22.
The minivans then headed to Chernobyl proper for a briefing on the accident.
Next stop: the nuclear plant and "sarcophagus," the concrete-and-steel shell
built to contain Reactor No. 4's radioactive spew. Mr. Tatarchuk held up a
radiation detector - 470 microroentgens per hour.
The Finns posed for a group shot.
Motivations for coming here are many. The Finnish tourists, all in their
20's, said they had an affinity for lonely, abandoned places, and the zone
so far exceeded the forgotten homes, farms or industrial spaces in Finland
that its draw became irresistible. They flew to Kiev from Helsinki solely
for the trip.
Mr. Tatarchuk said others had turned up because they were curious about
the disaster, or wished to enter an accidental preserve of Soviet life.
Bird-watchers have visited to catalogue the zone's resurgent life.
One group came for a hoax. About two years ago, Mr. Tatarchuk said, a
Ukrainian woman booked a tour, wore a leather biker jacket and posed for
pictures. Soon there appeared a Web site in which the woman, using the name
Elena, claimed that she had been given an unlimited pass by her father, a
nuclear physicist and Chernobyl researcher ("Thank you, Daddy!" she wrote)
and now roamed the ruins at will on her Kawasaki Big Ninja.
The site, www.kiddofspeed.com, billed as a tale "where one can ride with no
stoplights, no police, no danger to hit some cage or some dog," was a
sensation, duping uncountable viewers before being discredited. The Finns
said they had seen the Web site, and hoped their planned site would be as
popular.
On the day of their tour, the most haunting destination came last: Pripyat,
a city left behind. "Heralded as the world's youngest city when it opened
its doors in the mid-1970's," Ms. Mycio writes, "Pripyat also turned out to
be its shortest lived."
The city was encased on this day in a silence broken by breezes sighing
through rustling trees. A heavier hush resided in buildings, where drops of
water plopped loudly into puddles, and glass squeaked as it broke underfoot.
Built on marshes, the place smelled of peat.
At the amusement park, near idled bumper cars, Mr. Tatarchuk's monitor
registered 144 microroentgens an hour. He moved four feet away, to a mat of
damp green moss. It read 823. "Stay off the moss," he said.
The moss is all around. Pripyat, both a time capsule of the Soviet Union and
a monument to its folly and pain, is being consumed. What looters have not
sacked or stolen succumbs now to the elements and time.
A cafe patio atop the Polissia Hotel, offering views to the reactor that
ruined this place, has been colonized by birch trees. One stands roughly
seven feet tall, climbing skyward from a crack in the high-rise's tiles.
Fine views of Pripyat are available from among these misplaced trees,
including one in the direction of the reactor that reveals an empty clinic
bearing an enormous sign. "The health of the people," it reads, "is the
wealth of the country." Mr. Tatarchuk, looking down over buckling rooftops,
repeated those words in Russian, then allowed himself a knowing,
head-shaking smile. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/international/europe/15chernobyl.html
===============================================================
20. SAFE-BLOOD FOUNDATION WORKS TO STOP AIDS INFECTIONS
Has had invitations to enter Brazil and Ukraine
By Angus Macmillan, Dow Jones Newswires
Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, June 1, 2005
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Six years ago, Jeff Busch was just another
New York investment banker, but today his Safe Blood for Africa Foundation
is channeling private- and public-sector funds into saving lives across the
continent. So successful has this nonprofit venture become that Safe Blood
for China has been established and requests have been received to set up
similar structures in Ukraine, Brazil and India.
"I was doing quite a bit of work in the health-care sector in East and West
Africa and realized the massive human and economic impact that HIV/AIDS
was having," the 47-year-old Mr. Busch said. He identified a major problem
as the lack of donor screening and blood testing before transfusions took
place, causing hundreds of thousands of Africans to receive infected blood.
Safe Blood for Africa was founded in 1999 with its regional headquarters in
Johannesburg to assist African countries in supplying safe blood to their
populations. Though South Africa has its own world-class blood-banking
service and receives no assistance from the foundation, Johannesburg was
chosen as the organization's base because of its access to skilled personnel
and logistical and cost advantages compared with other major African cities.
"I worked [the U.S.] Congress and canvassed companies for funding. It took
awhile, but eventually the message got through and we're now operating in 18
countries across Africa," said Mr. Busch, who is based in the U.S. but
travels to Africa regularly.
When it came to seeking funding, he was able to call on the experience he
had gleaned from running a private investment-banking business and a former
position as a U.S. human-rights representative to the United Nations. While
he took no salary from the foundation for the first five years, he is paid
in his role as chairman.
Apart from supplying millions of paper-based blood-testing kits that cost
between 80 cents and $1.30 each, the foundation gives health-care workers
practical training in donor screening, blood transfusion and blood-banking
procedures. While some companies give cash donations, others provide
equipment and supplies, accounting for around 70% of the foundation's needs.
One of the first funders was Exxon Mobil Corp. Others include Abbott
Laboratories, Global Med Technologies, Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co.
Also involved are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Agency for
International Development, the World Bank and many small companies.
Some funders are driven by philanthropy, others by a mixture of wanting to
help and building goodwill in countries where they do business.
Though Safe Blood for Africa operates in partnership with African
governments, its funding is wholly from international companies, governments
and aid agencies.
"It costs around $4 million a year to finance our activities in Africa,
which are most comprehensive in Nigeria and Botswana," Mr. Busch said.
In Botswana, which has a particularly high rate of HIV and hepatitis
infections, a youth program has been created to promote healthy lifestyles.
Youths pledge to donate 25 units of blood by the age of 25. In return, the
foundation provides them with recreation facilities, computer skills and
other educational information.
There is evidence the program is working. In the first quarter of 2005, the
amount of blood suitable for transfusions in Botswana rose 80% from a year
earlier. In Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, the foundation is
helping the government to establish a national blood service operated
through several regional centers.
Mr. Busch estimates Nigeria's HIV-infection rate at about 12%, but he says
donor screening and an Exxon Mobil-financed training center is rapidly
improving the safety of the country's two million blood transfusions
annually.
Last year, 250 technicians were trained in blood-banking procedures and
400 are scheduled for training this year. Around 1,000 doctors and nurses
will receive ongoing education in blood utilization and transfusion.
However,
not all African countries are as keen to be assisted by the foundation as
Nigeria and Botswana.
"We go where we are invited and that does keep us out of some countries,"
Mr. Busch said, declining to name specific countries. The latest large
African country to seek the foundation's help is the Democratic Republic of
Congo, where an estimated one million blood transfusions take place every
year. The foundation also recently entered Angola.
"The beauty about the blood-testing kits we supply is that they are not heat
sensitive, a very important consideration in Africa where refrigeration is
at a premium," Mr. Busch said.
Now that the foundation is well established in Africa, the focus is
broadening to other parts of the world, especially Asia, Eastern Europe and
South America. But Mr. Busch doesn't want to dilute Africa's success by
taking away any human, cash or equipment resources from the continent.
Rather, he's hoping to establish the same sort of public- and private-sector
partnerships in other countries.
In China, an agreement was reached with the ministry of health and there
have been tentative commitments of support from some international
companies.
Following invitations to enter Brazil and Ukraine, teams have been set up to
analyze the blood-screening and banking needs of both of these countries.
"We are building up the organization and its capacity so we don't hurt or
weaken existing projects. There's still lots to do in Africa," Mr. Busch
said. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Write to Angus Macmillan at angus.macmillan@dowjones.com
===============================================================
21. KATERYNA YUSHCHENKO PRESENTED WHEELCHAIRS TO
HANDICAPPED CHILDREN AND SENIORS
Wheelchair Foundation and United Ukrainian-American Relief Committee
Press office of the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, June 13, 2005
KYIV - Kateryna Yushchenko took part in the charitable ceremony of
presenting wheelchairs to the handicapped. On June 13, the charitable
organization Wheelchair Foundation and the United Ukrainian-American
Relief Committee presented 300 wheelchairs to the disabled.
Mrs. Elisabeth Pataki, wife of the New York state governor, and Vyacheslav
Kyrylenko, Minister of Labor and Social Policy, took part in the ceremony
which was held in the Boarding House for the Veterans of War and Labor.
In her speech, Mrs. Yushchenko noted that a civilized level of a society is
traditionally manifested through its attitude to people with particular
needs. "We find it important to be attentive to such people and their
abilities and study to work to improve life. We will work toward helping
these people live normal life", stressed Mrs. Yushchenko.
According to Mrs. Elisabeth Pataki, who is a member of the board of advisors
of the Wheelchair Foundation, the presents were given to both the veterans
of war and labor and the young disabled Kyivers. She emphasized that the
Wheelchair Foundation "would do everything to completely satisfy the need of
the handicapped Ukrainian citizens for wheelchairs".
The wife of the New York state Governor expressed gratitude to the Ukrainian
Institute of America, its head Volodymyr Nazarevych, Mr. Yuriy Chopivsky and
Mrs. Orysya Denysenko who helped to raise the money. She also thanked the
Ukrainian Federal Credit Union Samopomich in New York and Lufthanza
which helped to transport the charitable cargo to Kyiv.
"I hope our cooperation with Ukraine and our joint initiatives will help
disabled people of different ages to gain desired mobility which will speed
up their incorporation in society", she said. After the charitable ceremony
Kateryna Yushchenko and Elisabeth Pataki presented candy to the children
and talked to their parents. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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