"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR"
An International Newsletter
The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary
"Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR" - Number 592
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Ukraine, FRIDAY, October 28, 2005
--------INDEX OF ARTICLES--------
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. EU HOPES TO DECIDE WHETHER TO GRANT UKRAINE THE
COVETED MARKET ECONOMY STATUS BY DECEMBER 1
By Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, Dow Jones Newswires
Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, October 27, 2005 .
2. UKRAINE NOT TO SYNCHRONIZE WTO ENTRY WITH
RUSSIA SAYS PRESIDENT'S CHIEF OF STAFF
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1012 gmt 28 Oct 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, Oct 28, 2005
3. UKRAINE EXPECTS USA TO RESUME FUNDING MISSILE
FUEL DISPOSAL PROGRAM
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 1145 gmt 27 Oct 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Oct 27, 2005
4. UKRAINE PRIME MINISTER: RUSSIA CAN BE INCLUDED
IN GAS SUPPLY TALKS
Associated Press (AP), Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
5. UKRAINE'S DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS THE MILITARY MUST
HELP WITH NATO MEMBERSHIP BID
Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, October 27, 2005
6. SWEDISH COMPANY ERICSSON TO EXPAND GSM NETWORK
IN UKRAINE FOR $45 MILLION
Edited Press Release, Dow Jones Newswires
Stockholm, Sweden, Thu, Oct 27, 2005
7. UKRAINE'S EX-TOP PROSECUTOR FILES APPEAL
AGAINST FIRING BY PRESIDENT VICTOR YUSHCHENKO
Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, Oct 27, 2005
8. VICTOR GETS HIS GROOVE BACK
COMMENTARY: By Adrian Karatnycky
The Wall Street Journal Europe
New York, New York, Wednesday, October 26, 2005
9. ADDING GREEN TO THE ORANGE REVOLUTION
Inaugural U.S.-Ukrainian Investment Symposium
"Sustaining Momentum", October 31, 2005, Harvard Club of Boston
New Economic Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk to Speak
By E. Morgan Williams, Publisher & Editor
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Washington, D.C., Friday, October 28, 2005
10. YUSHCHENKO MARKS 62ST ANNIVERSARY OF UKRAINE'S
LIBERATION FROM NAZIS
AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, Oct 28, 2005
11. US-UKRAINE ENERGY DIALOGUE
Capitol Hill/Dirksen Senate Office Building [G-50]
Wednesday, November 2, 2005, Washington, DC
Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov to speak at the Energy Conference
E. Morgan Williams, Publisher & Editor
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Washington, D.C., Friday, October 28, 2005
12. UKRAINE: PRIME MINISTER YEKHANUROV REFERS TO
OLIGARCHS AS "NATIONAL BOURGEOISIE"
Kryvorizhstal re-privatized to Dutch investors
COMMENTARY: By Taras Kuzio, Eurasia Daily Monitor
Jamestown Foundation, Volume 2, Issue 201
Washington, D.C., Friday, October 28, 2005
13. GENOCIDE BATTLE: TURK-ARMENIAN FIGHT OVER WWI
HISTORY GOES TO A US COURT
Massachusetts Law Sparks Free-Speech Debate About Teaching 'Genocide'
By Kara Scannell, Staff Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
New York, NY, Thursday, October 27, 2005, Front Page A1
====================================================
1. EU HOPES TO DECIDE WHETHER TO GRANT UKRAINE THE
COVETED MARKET ECONOMY STATUS BY DECEMBER 1
By Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, Dow Jones Newswires
Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, October 27, 2005
BRUSSELS -- The European Commission hopes to decide whether to
grant Ukraine the coveted market economy status on Dec. 1, a European
Union spokeswoman said Thursday.
The decision-making process is going well and "we hope to make an
announcement to the Ukraine" during a summit Dec. 1, said E.U.
spokeswoman Emma Udwin.
Ukraine is one of a number of former Communist countries eager to
be recognized by the European Union as a market economy.
The label helps countries trade more easily with the E.U.. Among other
benefits, it allows a country to defend itself directly against European
accusations of illegal market dumping.
China has lobbied hard - and so far in vain - to gain market economy
status. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dow Jones: +32-2-741-1487; juliane.vonreppert@dowjones.com
====================================================
2. UKRAINE NOT TO SYNCHRONIZE WTO ENTRY WITH
RUSSIA SAYS PRESIDENT'S CHIEF OF STAFF
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1012 gmt 28 Oct 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, Oct 28, 2005
KIEV - The synchronization of Ukraine's and Russia's accession to
the World Trade Organization is political speculation, the head of the
presidential secretariat, Oleh Rybachuk, said at a briefing today.
"It is technically impossible to synchronize the two independent countries'
entry, and Ukraine is not conducting any talks [on synchronization]," he
said.
Rybachuk stressed that a decision on Ukraine's accession to the WTO
would be taken by the organization itself.
Rybachuk also said that the National Security and Defence Council of
Ukraine is going to consider the issue of Ukraine's readiness to join the
WTO at today's meeting.
"We have made significant progress in talks with the American side on
signing an agreement (necessary for Ukraine's accession to the WTO -
UNIAN)," Rybachuk said.
According to Rybachuk, a Ukrainian delegation is going to pay a visit to
Washington but did not indicate when this would happen. -30-
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3. UKRAINE EXPECTS USA TO RESUME FUNDING MISSILE
FUEL DISPOSAL PROGRAM
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 1145 gmt 27 Oct 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Oct 27, 2005
KIEV - Ukraine expects the USA to resume financing
programmes for missile fuel disposal, the secretary of the National Security
and Defence Council of Ukraine [NSDC], Anatoliy Kinakh, has said.
"We discussed the problems that mainly involve the USA fulfilling its
obligations for the disposal of missile fuel," Kinakh said in an interview
to journalists after meeting a delegation from the organization BENS
[Business Executives for National Security] (USA) in Kiev today.
He recalled that in 2003, the US Department of Defence stopped funding the
programme for missile fuel disposal in Ukraine. Around 5,000 tonnes of
missile fuel are stockpiled for disposal in Pavlohrad [Dnipropetrovsk
Region].
Kinakh said he told the meeting: "Ukraine is going to observe its
international obligations where it comes to security and combating
international terrorism."
"But we also expect the United States and the Department of Defence to
work more scrupulously in observing their obligations, especially in
completing programmes and fulfilling contracts for the disposal of missile
fuel on the territory of Ukraine," he said.
Kinakh said that during the meeting they discussed joint work on the issue.
He hopes members of the delegation will inform the Bush administration
about the outcome of the meeting.
Kinakh noted that trust between the two nations depends on the USA
fulfilling its obligations. -30-
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4. UKRAINE PRIME MINISTER: RUSSIA CAN BE INCLUDED
IN GAS SUPPLY TALKS
Associated Press (AP), Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan - Ukraine's prime minister signaled Wednesday
that his country would agree to Russia's participation in its talks with
Turkmenistan on long-term natural gas exports.
With some 45% of Ukraine's gas being supplied by the Central Asian nation
via Russian pipelines, Ukrainian officials reacted with alarm earlier this
month when Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov said Russia should be
consulted on a 25-year contract for gas deliveries to Ukraine.
Ukraine, which is trying to reduce its energy dependence on Moscow, fears
Russian meddling in gas deals. "It's difficult to talk about a 25-year
contract today, because such long-term plans should be decided in the
context of talks with Russia," Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov
said after talks with Niyazov in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat.
Yekhanurov also said Ukraine would try to pay off before the end of the
year more than $450 million in debts to Turkmenistan for this year's gas
supplies.
Under an earlier agreement between the two ex-Soviet republics,
Turkmenistan is to supply Ukraine with 36 billion cubic meters of gas in
2005. The price is $58 per 1000 cubic meters in the first six months, half
of which was supposed to be paid in kind, and $44 per 1,000 cubic meters
- in cash -starting July 1.
Yekhanurov said Ukraine was ready to heed the Turkmen government's
request to pay cash for the gas, though he didn't specify when that would
occur. Yekhanurov's delegation includes Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan
Plachkov and other officials, lawmakers and business representatives. -30-
====================================================
5. UKRAINE'S DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS THE MILITARY MUST
HELP WITH NATO MEMBERSHIP BID
Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, October 27, 2005
KIEV - Ukraine's defense minister asked the military Thursday to help end
the stereotype of NATO as an aggressor, as the ex-Soviet republic's
leadership continues to press its goal for NATO membership.
Anatoliy Gritsenko told top military officers that unnamed political forces
were spreading fears about the Western alliance. He asked the military's
leadership to play a role in ending negative opinions, the Defense Ministry
said.
President Viktor Yushchenko has made NATO membership a top goal. The
alliance has said it will help Ukraine push through the necessary reforms,
but has dodged questions about when it might offer membership to this nation
of 47 million.
Many Ukrainians view NATO with hostility, fearing alliance membership would
worsen relations with Moscow and ruin the defense industry, which has close
links to Russia. Gritsenko also cited fears that NATO would put nuclear
weapons in Ukraine, and that troops would be sent off to trouble spots
worldwide.
Ukraine had 1,650 troops serving Iraq as part of the U.S.-led military
operation there, but the move was highly unpopular and Yushchenko has order
the contingent's pullout. The country, however, has participated in numerous
other international peacekeeping missions, which Ukrainians generally
support.
The defense minister told officers that the parliament would still oversee
decisions like sending troops abroad, and said alliance membership would
open up new markets to the defense industry.
Russia is wary about Ukraine's flirtations with its former Cold War foe, and
opinion polls show that most Ukrainians also are concerned about possible
membership.
During a visit by a senior NATO delegation last week, a small protest was
held in eastern Ukraine and an opposition political party has called for a
referendum on membership. -30-
=====================================================
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====================================================
6. SWEDISH COMPANY ERICSSON TO EXPAND GSM NETWORK
IN UKRAINE FOR $45 MILLION
Edited Press Release, Dow Jones Newswires
Stockholm, Sweden, Thu, Oct 27, 2005
STOCKHOLM -- Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Telefon
AB L.M. Ericsson (ERICY) Thursday said it has signed a $45 million
contract with Ukrainian national mobile operator Astelit.
The company said the contract regards the expansion of Astelit's global
systems for mobile communications network. When completed, the
expansion will result in greater geographic coverage and network capacity
for the operator.
According to the contract, Ericsson will provide Astelit with a complete
turnkey solution for GSM/general packet radio service core and radio
network that includes supply of switching, radio network and transmission
equipment as well as professional services, implementation and training.
The expansion of the network will cover the cities and regions; Kyiv,
Odessa, Nikolayev, Chernigov, Cherkassy, Khmelnitskiy, Vinnitsa, Zhitomir,
and also provide mobile communications to road sites, Ericsson said.
=====================================================
7. UKRAINE'S EX-TOP PROSECUTOR FILES APPEAL
AGAINST FIRING BY PRESIDENT VICTOR YUSHCHENKO
Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, Oct 27, 2005
KIEV - Ukraine's former top prosecutor filed an appeal against President
Viktor Yushchenko's decision to fire him, a presidential adviser said
Wednesday.
Svyatoslav Piskun asked a Kiev court to return him to the powerful post of
prosecutor general, said Mykola Poludenniy, a legal adviser to Yushchenko.
Piskun was sacked earlier this month and Yushchenko's office later accused
the prosecutor of dragging out important investigations. "Everything was
done according to the law," Poludenniy told The Associated Press.
Piskun, who couldn't be reached for comment, had been an unpopular figure
and many of Yushchenko's Orange Revolution supporters criticized the
president for not dismissing Piskun earlier.
He claimed that he was sacked because of a criminal investigation into one
of the president's closest allies, Petro Poroshenko. The abuse-of-office
case against Poroshenko was closed last week after Piskun was fired.
Piskun had also served as the country's top prosecutor under former
President Leonid Kuchma, but was fired in 2003 after Kuchma accused him
of trying to politicize the powerful office.
Piskun countered that Kuchma fired him because he had come close to
making key arrests in the 2000 killing of investigative journalist Heorhiy
Gongadze, a murder that Kuchma's critics accused him of ordering. Piskun
also challenged that dismissal and a court ordered his reinstatement. -30-
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8. VICTOR GETS HIS GROOVE BACK
COMMENTARY: By Adrian Karatnycky
The Wall Street Journal Europe
New York, New York, Wednesday, October 26, 2005
The Ukrainian government on Monday achieved its most important
breakthrough since the Orange Revolution by selling off the massive
Kryvorizhstal steel works in a live auction watched by millions on
television.
The world's largest steel company, Mittal Steel Germany GMBH, acquired
the Ukrainian mill for $4.8 billion -- $4 billion more than a consortium
including former President Leonid Kuchma's son-in-law paid only 16 months
ago in a rigged privatization.
This week's sale reverses that injustice, and fills state coffers high
enough to cover a fifth of the state's annual budget. In one move, Mittal
increased total foreign investment in Ukraine since independence in 1991 by
50%.
All this couldn't come at a better time for President Viktor Yushchenko. In
the aftermath of his dismissal last month of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko
and other allies who stood beside him in the Kiev cold against the Kuchma
regime, critics have accused the president of abandoning -- if not outright
betraying -- the Orange Revolution.
Mr. Yushchenko's actions in recent weeks answer his doubters. His new
government includes many stalwarts of the Orange Revolution, including
Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk, Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko, and
Justice Minister Serhiy Holovaty, who fought corruption and crime in the
Kuchma era.
As part of the government shake up, President Yushchenko also sacked
Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun, who is accused by the mother of
murdered journalist Heorhiy Gongadze of protecting high-ranking former
officials implicated in the killing.
Gone, too, are several key Yushchenko aides, including former National
Security Advisor Petro Poroshenko, whom critics charge with conflict of
interest and efforts to promote the business interests of friends and
allies, if not outright corruption.
Most importantly, President Yushchenko has used the government reshuffle
to signal that the populist policies of Ms. Tymoshenko will be replaced by
more business-friendly ones.
He turned down Western advice to turn the page on rigged and corrupted
privatizations and pressed forward with a new auction for Kryvorizhstal
works.
At the same time, he rejected suggestions that thousands of past
privatizations be reopened. His pragmatic approach aims to redress the most
egregious excesses from the past, but not in a way that hurts investment.
He has also pushed deregulation to spur enterprise and, in a clear break
with the Soviet past, unilaterally lifted visa requirements for European
Union and North American visitors.
These policy corrections have piqued investor interest. In August, Austria's
Raiffeisen Bank purchased Ukraine's Aval Bank for over $1 billion.
Venture capitalist Tim Draper, who reaped hundreds of millions in profits
from an investment in internet phone service Skype, has created a new $80
million fund, DFJ Nexus, to invest in Ukraine's high-tech sector.
Ending the disputes over who owns what is good for local business, too.
Oligarchs like Rinat Akhmetov, whose System Capital Management lost its
profitable stake in Kryvorizhstal, can now be more certain they will hold on
to their other major enterprises. Mr. Akhmetov already benefits from this
new transparency.
According to published reports, he is readying to sell shares in his
conglomerate on the London Stock Exchange, raising billions of dollars
for new investments at home and abroad.
Taken together, these developments may give impetus to an economy that
had slowed from 12% growth in 2004 to a projected 4% this year.
Over the past year, Mr. Yushchenko has made some crucial mistakes. He
signed a political stabilization pact with bitter rival Viktor Yanukovych
that hinted at broader cooperation with representatives of the discredited
old regime.
He signed a law that impedes the prosecution of virtually all elected
officials down to the smallest town council member (even as he pledged to
challenge the constitutionality of that very law in the Supreme Court).
He waited too long while incompetent officials delayed the prosecution of
high-ranking officials linked to the murder and harassment of journalists,
to the rigging of last year's presidential elections, and to the plotting of
his own murder.
And he removed his former government team without adequate preparation,
lurching from praise of its actions to sharp criticism and dismissal in a
matter of days.
These missteps have eroded the broad public support that Mr. Yushchenko
enjoyed after taking office. But as the March 2006 parliamentary elections
loom, the president remains the country's most popular political leader.
According to early polls, his parliamentary allies are likely to end up with
20-25% of the seats in the next Rada, which will see its powers strengthen
next year when constitutional amendments come into force.
Candidates loyal to Ms. Tymoshenko are likely to make up a further 20-25%
of the next legislature, enough -- with smaller parties -- to give the old
Orange Revolutionaries an opportunity to build the next government.
Angered at her dismissal, Ms. Tymoshenko vowed political revenge but kept
a low profile. On Monday, she reemerged to watch the dramatic auction in
person. Afterwards, she declared her intention to work with Mr. Yushchenko's
Our Ukraine movement in a post-election ruling majority.
The odds of cooperation -- if not outright reconciliation -- between the
estranged allies are high. In her seven months as prime minister, Ms.
Tymoshenko supported hefty and unsustainable outlays for pensions and
state employees.
She tried to control meat, gasoline and other commodity prices. By late
summer, with the economy slowing down, she began to adopt a more
pragmatic, market-oriented approach, shelving her plans for far-reaching
reprivatizations and lifting a cloud over Ukrainian business.
If the events of recent days are a sign of things to come, President
Yushchenko will have weathered his first political crisis. For this country
of 48 million so unused to pragmatic and effective rule, a re-energized
presidency must count as good news.
And Mr. Yushchenko's fortunes matter beyond Ukraine's borders. In recent
weeks, Russia's state-dominated media -- all too aware of the potential
democratic contagion from the Orange Revolution -- played up the alleged
chaos in the ranks of Ukraine's government.
Other nations, from Belarus to Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan, are also watching
this experiment closely. With the democratic transition in Ukraine back on
track, this country's reformers need outside support. Europe can move
quickly to declare Ukraine a market economy.
The U.S. can remove decades-old and hopelessly outdated Jackson-Vanik
sanctions that impede trade. The West as a whole can press for Ukraine's
accession to the World Trade Organization. -30-
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Mr. Karatnycky is counselor and senior scholar at Freedom House and a
founder of the Orange Circle, a non-governmental initiative.
=====================================================
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=====================================================
9. ADDING GREEN TO THE ORANGE REVOLUTION
Inaugural U.S.-Ukrainian Investment Symposium
"Sustaining Momentum", October 31, 2005, Harvard Club of Boston
New Economic Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk to Speak
By E. Morgan Williams, Publisher & Editor
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Washington, D.C., Friday, October 28, 2005
WASHINGTON - Arseniy Yatseniuk, the newly appointed Economic
Minister of Ukraine, will be kicking off the Inaugural US-Ukrainian
Investment Symposium at the Harvard Club of Boston (main club)
sponsored by the International Economic Alliance (IEA).
Gala Event at Boston's Harvard Club (main club) ---
The U.S.-Ukrainian Investment Symposium, the inaugural celebration of
Ukraine's progress towards economic integration will take place on Monday,
October 31st, 2005 at the Harvard Club of Boston. As part of the three-day
regional investment focus, The 9th Annual U.S.-Russian Investment
Symposium will be held on November 1,2 at Boston's Seaport Hotel and
World Trade Center.
Ukraine: It's all about the Economy now. Investors are interested again ---
Which direction is Ukraine going after their heady Orange revolution?
What's next for the newly democratized country for international investors?
The U.S. Government has dedicated unprecedented attention to Ukraine's
macroeconomic evolution, seeing great commercial opportunity for the
international investment community.
For this support, the Ukrainian Government is trading gestures of
commitment to the open market with the recent Western-standard
privatization of Kryvorizhstal, the country's core industrial asset, and
redrawing the roadmap to accession for the World Trade Organization
next year.
With 31 year old wunderkind, Arseniy Yatseniuk, newly appointed
Economic Minister of Ukraine at the helm, the economic promise of
the Orange Revolution is at stake.
AGENDA
8:00 a.m. - Pre-Symposium Registration
8:45 a.m. - WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS : Van McCormick
Director, International Economic Alliance (IEA)
9:00 a.m. - SPECIAL ADDRESS AND EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW:
Arseniy Yatseniuk, Ukrainian Minister of the Economy
Clarifying the new Government's commitment to pluralism and consensus
building is imperative to understanding the direction of Ukraine's economy.
How will President Yuschenko's move to dismiss the Cabinet modify plans
for reform in Ukraine?
What do these recent changes spell for his coalition in Parliamentary
elections in March and the long-term outlook of his Administration?
With Russia and the U.S. leading foreign investment into Ukraine, how will
the political and economic repercussions of last year affect trade and
investment from these and other countries? What internal policy changes
will ignite the economy?
10:00 a.m. - Refreshment Break
10:30 a.m. - Panel I: THE IMPACT OF REFORM ON BUSINESS
Assigns a special focus to advancements made by government regulation in:
(a.) WTO/EU accession; (b.) joint stock, bankruptcy, tax and corporate law;
and (c.) re-privatization. As these reforms take root, will they lead to
the bargain opportunities available in the early nineties?
How are anti-corruption measures broadening the accessibility of Ukrane's
abundant business opportunities for domestic and foreign investors? The
prospects for equitable joint stock company laws in Eastern Europe?
Will owners of re-privatized companies be subjected to previous investors'
terms and conditions? Who stands to gain or lose and what will be the
guarantees, if any, for past and future creditors and investors?
Moderator: Dr. Sergei Konoplyov, Director, Black Sea Program,
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Speakers: Alexei Danilov, Governor of Lugansk Oblast
Sarah Carey, Partner, Squire Sanders
Jaroslawa Johnson, Managing Partner, Chadbourne & Parke
Peter Koelle, Chairman, International Bank of Moscow
Elena Voloshina, Ukraine Program Director, International
Finance Corporation (IFC)
11:30 a.m. - SPECIAL INTERACTIVE ROUNDTABLE:
Based on the Harvard Case-study model, an interactive roundtable
discussion will be held to include the audience
12:00 noon - LUNCHEON KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Konstyantyn
Gryschenko, Former Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Former
Ambassador to the United States
1:30 p.m. - SPECIAL CASE LECTURE: RAWI ABDELAL
Harvard Business School Professor
"National Purpose in the World Economy:
Interpreting Investment in Russia and Ukraine"
2:30 p.m. - Panel II: SPOTLIGHT ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Identifying new investment opportunities ready to flourish in current market
conditions: information technology, food processing, tourism/resort
development, et al. With Ukraine's GDP on target to hit approximately 4%
this year, entrepreneurial activity has been a major driver. How can this
force for development be sustained?
What is the government doing to foster a domestic and international culture
of entrepreneurship in Ukraine? Where is Ukraine in acquiring the
infrastructure needed to fuel technology entrepreneurship?
What are the incentives needed to spur small and medium-sized businesses to
reach the optimal 70% of industry mark needed to create economic stability?
How can Ukraine leverage its skilled-labor force towards expanding high
value-added industries?
Moderator: Dr. John Tedstrom, President, Trans-Atlantic Partnership
Against AIDS
Speakers: Roman Kyzyk, Managing Partner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
NEXUS
Dorian Foyil, President, Foyil Securities
Ihor Pavlysh, Chairman, 3i
3:30 - Refreshment Break
4:00 - Panel III: ACCESS TO CAPITAL
Perspectives on the investment climate from private equity firms, venture
capitalists, international financial institutions, and others. Will new
investment by the World Bank in Ukraine lead other institutional investors
to follow? How can investors take advantage of banking reforms to
capitalize and diversify Ukraine's financial sector?
What opportunities for finance and new financial products (leasing,
insurance) are now available to mini-, mid-, and large-cap businesses in
Ukraine? Predicting the investment grading one to five years out: what, if
any, are the new risk factors to watch out for?
The new government has been promised more than $7 Billion in investment
in recent months; what will be the conditions necessary to make that a
reality? From where and why is foreign capital flowing into the Ukraine?
Moderator: Jorge Zukoski, President of the American Chamber of
Commerce in Ukraine (AMCHAM)
Speakers: Edward Nassim, Director of Central and Eastern Europe,
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Natalie Jaresko, CEO, Horizon Capital; Member, President's
Foreign Investment Comm.
Kamen Zahariev, Country Director Ukraine, European Bank
for Reconstruction and Dev (EBRD)
Jeffrey Millikan, CIS Regional Manager of Raiffeisen
International Bank-Holding AG
5:00 p.m. - General Summary of Remarks
5:30 p.m. - Joint Symposia Cocktail Reception
CONTACT: Kiril Stefan Alexandrov, Tel: 617.461.4155,
Fax: 1.617.812.0499; Kiril@post.harvard.edu
TIME SENSITIVE REGISTRATION: To secure a seat, please register
on-line or via phone by calling Karen Bligh at 617.388.2770 or via email
Karen.Bligh@IEAlliance.org.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Dr. Susanne Lotarski, President, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council
and Morgan Williams, Director, Government Affairs, Washington Office
for SigmaBleyzer and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the
Ukraine-US Business Council will represent the Business Council at the
economic conference in Boston.
=====================================================
10. YUSHCHENKO MARKS 62ST ANNIVERSARY OF UKRAINE'S
LIBERATION FROM NAZIS
AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, Oct 28, 2005
KIEV - President Viktor Yushchenko marked the 61st anniversary of
Ukraine's liberation from the Nazis, laying flowers Friday at the Tomb of
Unknown Soldier in a solemn ceremony.
"With the deepest sincerity, we express our thanks to our fathers and
grandfathers, who with their own blood and unbelievable suffering won the
right to live and be free," Yushchenko wrote in an address to the nation.
Friday's low-key commemorations contrasted sharply to how the date was
celebrated last year in the midst of Ukraine's bitter presidential election.
Former President Leonid Kuchma had hosted a big, Soviet-style parade in
downtown Kiev, attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The televised
event - the first time that date was celebrated in such style - was widely
seen as the Kremlin's political endorsement of Yushchenko's opponent, then
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Yushchenko, a pro-Western reformer, went on to win the hotly contested race
in an unprecedented court-ordered third round as tens of thousands of his
supporters gathered in downtown Kiev for what became known as the Orange
Revolution.
This time, Yushchenko's brief commemorations were attended by Prime
Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, Kiev Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko and other
officials.
Ukraine saw some of World War II's fiercest battles, when German troops
and their allies seized its territory and were later driven out by the Red
Army. Kiev and many other cities suffered massive damage.
An estimated 7 million Ukrainians died in the war, and 2.4 million Ukrainian
residents were sent to Nazi concentration camps.
This ex-Soviet republic holds its big victory commemorations on May 9 on
the anniversary of the Nazi defeat. -30-
=====================================================
11. US-UKRAINE ENERGY DIALOGUE
Capitol Hill/Dirksen Senate Office Building [G-50]
Wednesday, November 2, 2005, Washington, DC
Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov to speak at the Energy Conference
E. Morgan Williams, Publisher & Editor
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Washington, D.C., Friday, October 28, 2005
WASHINGTON - The first US-Ukraine Energy Dialogue, sponsored by
the American Foreign Policy Council, Center for US-Ukrainian Relations,
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), and the
Congressional Ukrainian Caucus will be held on Wednesday, November 2,
2005, on Capitol Hill at the Dirksen Senate Office Building (G-50).
Attendance is by invitation only.
AGENDA
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM: A Word of Welcome from Senator Richard Lugar,
(R-IN) - Chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee
I. Opening Remarks – Why Begin a US-UA Energy Dialogue? [US
Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst]
[DOE Secretary Bodman][INVITED]
9:30 AM – 12:00 PM: II. Morning Session – Mini Roundtable I
Theme: Assessing the Present State of UA Energy Policy [Chair: Ariel
Cohen/Heritage Foundation]
Production/Overview
1. UA Oil Exploration & Refining [Ihor Palytsya/UKRNAFTA]
2. UA Gas Exploration & Recovery [Ilya Rybchych /
UKRHAZVYDOBYVANYA]
3. UA Coal Mining [Viktor Topolov]/ UA Minister of the Coal Industry]
4. UA Nuclear Power Generation [Mykola Shteinberg/UA Fuel and Energy
Ministry]
5. UA Hydro Power Generation [Semen Potashnyk/UKRHYDROENERHO]
Distribution/Overview
6. UA Oil Transit Systems [Oleksandr Todyichuk/UKRTRANSNAFTA]
7. UA Gas Transit Systems [Olexiy Ivchenko/UKRNAFTAHAZ]
8. UA Electric Power Grid [Garry Levesley/AES Corporation]
12:00 PM – 2:30 PM: III. KEYNOTE ADDRESS:
Theme: Ukraine’s Energy Strategy [Ukraine Prime Minster Yuri Yekhanurov]
IV. Working Lunch – Three Featured Speakers/Themes [Morgan Williams/
UA-US Business Council/SigmaBleyzer], Moderator
1. “Between a Rock and a Hard Place”: The Politics of Securing UA’s
Energy Needs [Keith Smith/CSIS]
2. “The Little Pipeline That Everyone Has Heard So Much About”:
Odessa-Brody [Wojciech Tabis/PERN]
3. “Ukraine’s Potential Energy Godsend”: The Black & Azov Sea
Shelves [Ihor Franchyk/Chornomornaftahaz]
2:30 PM - 5:00 PM: V. Afternoon Session Mini Roundtable II
Theme: Pondering the Future of UA Energy Policy [Chair: Ilan
Berman/American Foreign Policy Council]
Government Players:
1. UA MOE Perspective [Serhiy Titenko/Serhiy Pavlusha]
2. US DOE/DOS/DOC Perspective [Michael Cohen/J.Benedict Wolf/
Christine Lucyk]
3. UA Rada Perspective [Oleh Salmin]
4. US Congress Perspective [Eliot Engel/Darell Issa][INVITED]
Non-Government Players:
5. UA Energy Industry Perspective [V.I. Lapshyn/Robert Bensh/
Oleksandr Chaly/Victor Pergat]
6. Western Energy Industry Perspective [Jim Jennings/John Imle/
Bob Schaffer/Michael Kirst]
7. Capital Resources Perspective [Igor Obozinstsev/Steven Johnston/
John Hewko/Marianna Kozintseva]
8. Energy Consulting Perspective [Robert McFarlane/Julia Nanay/
Susanne Lotarski/Volodymyr Kasyanov]
5:00 PM -5:30 PM: VI. Closing Remarks: Where Do We Go From
Here with the Dialogue? [UA Energy Min. Plachkov]
[M. Brinded/Royal Shell][INVITED]
Western firms sending representatives include: Hunt Oil, Cardinal
Resources, AES, Northland Power, Aspect Energy, Vanco,
Westinghouse, Hitachi, America Ltd, ComOxy, Picor, Safeguards Inc.,
Trident Oil, ComPro, Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil, Halliburton,
Citicorp, Bear Stearns, IFC, World Bank, SigmaBleyzer.
ORGANIZERS: American Foreign Policy Council, Center for US-
Ukrainian Relations, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America,
Congressional Ukrainian Caucus: Sponsor: Senator Richard Lugar
(R-IN)
CONTACT: Walter Zaryckyj, Executive Director/Center for US-
Ukrainian Relations/Associate Professor of Social Sciences/New
York University/ Coordinator/US-Ukraine Energy Dialogue Series
Program Tel: 1 917 476 1221; Fax: 1 212 473 0839;
E-mail: WAZ1@nyu.edu. -30-
=====================================================
12. UKRAINE: PRIME MINISTER YEKHURANOV REFERS TO
OLIGARCHS AS "NATIONAL BOURGEOISIE"
Kryvorizhstal re-privatized to Dutch investors
COMMENTARY: By Taras Kuzio, Eurasia Daily Monitor
Jamestown Foundation, Volume 2, Issue 201
Washington, D.C., Friday, October 28, 2005
Once reviled by reformers, Ukraine's wealthy business oligarchs are now
being described as a "national bourgeoisie" by top government officials.
After much controversy and debate, on October 24 Kryvorizhstal, Ukraine's
largest steel mill, was re-privatized in proceedings that were transparent
and widely praised. The Ukrainian media hailed the transaction as marking
the "end of the oligarch era" in Ukraine (State TV Channel 1, October 24).
In June 2004, Kryvorizhstal was sold to Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of
then-President Leonid Kuchma, and Donetsk oligarch Renat Akhmetov for
$800 million. That tender blocked foreign investors.
Several companies were re-privatized this summer by the government of
then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Kryvorizhstal's sale to the Dutch
company Mittal Steel this week increased the price six fold to $4.8 billion.
An editorial in the Financial Times (October 26) described the
re-privatization as being "achieved through a fair and open process."
Four days earlier the Ukrainian parliament had attempted to block the
re-privatization. Some 257 deputies (out of 450) from the former Kuchma
centrist camp and the left voted in favor of a non-binding resolution on the
issue.
Left-leaning political forces sought to keep Kryvorizhstal in state hands,
and the head of the State Property Fund, Socialist party member Valentyna
Semeniuk, resigned to protest the re-sale.
Throughout 2005 the Orange Revolution coalition has been sharply divided
over the extent of Ukraine's re-privatization drive. As prime minister,
Tymoshenko at one stage called for 3,000 re-privatizations. Yushchenko, and
his new Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, support a minimum number of
re-privatizations.
The Financial Times (October 26) backed the Yushchenko-Yekhanurov
approach, writing, "Ukraine's review of past privatizations must be limited
in scope, governed by transparent rules, and completed within a clearly
stated, and very brief, time."
Furthermore, the newspaper recommended that re-privatizations be limited to
a few "well-managed" deals that could raise state funds. More importantly,
the re-sales should shift ownership away "from a small clique of oligarchs."
One test case could be the stalled re-privatization of the Nikopol
Ferroalloy plant, which was also owned by Pinchuk. The Tymoshenko bloc
recently issued a statement calling for its re-privatization from Pinchuk
(Ukrayinska pravda, October 27).
Yushchenko had earlier accused the Tymoshenko government of not remaining
neutral in the Nikopol re-privatization, by siding with a Pinchuk rival, the
Privat oligarch group.
The Financial Times recommendations would keep Kyiv from treating Ukraine's
oligarchs in the same manner that Moscow treated Russia's oligarchs.
A summer 2000 meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian
oligarchs led to an agreement whereby the government would not undertake any
privatizations and the oligarchs would stay out of politics.
Subsequent re-privatization deals have targeted those oligarchs who
continued to play a role in politics, notably Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Yet the underlying system that had created the Russian oligarchy was never
reformed. Russia's oligarchs continue to control three-quarters of the
economy, and corruption has actually grown under Putin (Economist, October
21).
Yushchenko held his own summit with Ukraine's oligarchs in mid-October. He
demanded that the oligarchs play by the rules of the game, contribute more
to the budget by paying more taxes, end their corrupt practices, move out of
the shadow economy, and repatriate their capital from offshore shelters
(Ukrayinska pravda, October 14).
Yushchenko called upon the oligarchs to evolve from robber-baron capitalists
to legitimate businessmen. "We should do everything so that the 'playing
field' between the authorities and business is clear and well laid out,"
Yushchenko said (Ukrayinska pravda, October 14).
Prime Minister Yekhanurov went one step further. He lauded the fact that the
"national bourgeoisie are sitting at the same table with the president. This
is an attempt at instituting dialogue from both sides and moving towards
each other" (Ukrayinska pravda, October 14).
Yushchenko sharply criticized the populist policies of the Tymoshenko
government, which presided over plummeting economic growth.
Yushchenko held out an olive branch to the oligarchs consisting of no mass
re-privatization, an amnesty on capital flows out of the country, mutual
trust, and positive government attitudes towards business.
For the oligarchs present at the meeting, their greatest fear -- which led
them to oppose Yushchenko's candidacy last year -- was re-privatization. The
meeting confirmed that there would be no further talk of re-privatization.
Pinchuk reiterated, "We need to end that talk about re-privatization!"
(Ukrayinska pravda, October 15).
Nevertheless, there is still the possibility of a windfall tax on the
largest of the fraudulently conducted privatizations in the Kuchma era. A
one-off windfall tax would attempt to make up the difference between the low
price paid and the real market value.
Yushchenko's meeting with the oligarchs did not completely follow the
Russian model. Unlike Putin, Yushchenko never demanded that the oligarchs
would stay out of politics. So far, Pinchuk is the only Ukrainian oligarch
to declare that he would not seek re-election to parliament in 2006.
Other Ukrainian oligarchs remain politically active. Akhmetov is reportedly
still a major backer of Regions of Ukraine, the oligarch party of the
Donetsk clan. Hryhoriy Surkis continues to work with Viktor Medvedchuk
through the Social Democratic Party-United, although the party's low
popularity (currently 1%) makes it unlikely to win seats in the new
parliament.
After the meeting with Yushchenko, Surkis commented that, during the Kuchma
era, "Oligarchs as businessmen were usually described by society as
practically an enemy of the people" (Ukrayinska pravda, October 15).
Surkis can now rest easy, as he, alongside other former Ukrainian oligarchs,
now belong to a "national bourgeoisie" courted by the Ukrainian president.
======================================================
13. GENOCIDE BATTLE: TURK-ARMENIAN FIGHT OVER WWI
HISTORY GOES TO A US COURT
Massachusetts Law Sparks Free-Speech Debate About Teaching 'Genocide'
By Kara Scannell, Staff Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
New York, NY, Thursday, October 27, 2005, Front Page A1
Nearly a century ago, perhaps a million or more Christian Armenians were
slaughtered by Muslim Turks. It ranks among history's major instances of
genocide.
Or is "genocide" the wrong word?
For generations, Turks and Armenians have argued the point. Armenians say
it was genocide, pure and simple. Some Turks respond that the deaths were
a tragic byproduct of World War I and that both Turks and Armenians died.
Now, a Turkish group wants to settle the issue, American-style: in court.
Yesterday in U.S. District Court in Boston, two public high-school teachers,
one student and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations filed suit
challenging a Massachusetts statute that uses the word "genocide" to
describe the Armenian deaths.
The law sets guidelines for teaching about human rights in the state. The
lawsuit argues that the state violates the plaintiffs' free-speech rights by
excluding from the curriculum a view of events more favorable to the Turks.
In 1915, during World War I, the Ottoman Empire under the Young Turk
government sided with Germany against the Allies. Countless Armenians
were killed or forced off their land. Many starved to death in the desert.
Armenian groups say it was a concerted effort to force Christians out of
the predominantly Muslim empire. Turkish groups say that the Armenians
were collaborating with the Allies.
The legal spat in Massachusetts has its roots in a Thanksgiving dinner
when two state politicians who are brothers of Irish descent decided that
students in the state should learn more about human-rights violations.
Their particular interest was the Irish potato famine in the mid-1800s,
which killed hundreds of thousands of people. Many Irish people blame
British policies for the famine.
Because the brothers, Steve and Warren Tolman, grew up in Watertown,
Mass. -- home to one of the largest Armenian populations in the U.S. --
they had heard horror stories from Armenian families for years. They
sought to include the killings in the bill.
"It was under the guise of 'Those who do not know history are doomed
to repeat it,' " says Steve Tolman, who is now a state senator.
The statute, passed in 1998, says the Massachusetts Department of
Education should develop guidelines for a curriculum that discusses
slavery, the Irish famine, fascism in Italy, the Holocaust and other
human-rights violations. The list includes a specific reference to "the
Armenian genocide."
When the education department started writing the guidelines, early
versions provided teachers with the contact information for organizations
sympathetic to the Turkish view. But after protests from Armenian
groups those references were stripped out.
The resulting guidelines represent a free-speech violation, the lawsuit
contends. "Shutting one side off from the discussion and taking a place
away at the table is unconstitutional," says Harvey Silverglate, a First
Amendment lawyer who is advising the Turkish Associations.
The debate has nagged at Turkey over the years as it seeks to join the
European Union. Several EU countries have pressured Turkey to
acknowledge the killings as genocide.
Turkey's official position is that, while the deaths were horrific, they
weren't genocide. Although a 1986 report adopted by the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights labeled the killings genocide, the U.N.
hasn't taken an official position on the dispute.
A U.N. convention officially defines genocide as acts "committed with
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious
group." Webster's New World Dictionary, Fourth College Edition,
defines it as "the systematic killing of, or a program of action intended to
destroy, a whole national or ethnic group."
The U.S. government, which considers Turkey an important ally, doesn't
call the Armenian deaths genocide. In April, on the 90th anniversary of
the killings, President Bush called them a "terrible event" and a "human
tragedy."
The Massachusetts case isn't the first time the issue has ended up in a U.S.
court. This month, French insurer AXA agreed to pay $17 million, without
admitting wrongdoing, to settle claims brought by descendants of
Armenians killed in 1915.
The descendants said a company later bought by AXA failed to pay off
life-insurance policies to heirs of Armenian victims.
Mark Geragos, the celebrity lawyer who defended Scott Peterson this year
in his well-publicized murder trial, represented the policyholders.
Mr. Geragos, who is of Armenian descent, called the settlement an
important step toward "our ultimate goal, which is for Turkey and the
U.S. to officially acknowledge the genocide." AXA says it doesn't take
a position on the issue.
At one point the Massachusetts guidelines included a list of four
resources from the Turkish side, including the Embassy of Turkey in
the U.S. This came at the urging of the Turkish American Cultural Society
of New England.
Its president, Erkut Gomulu, wrote to the education department in 1999:
"There is no academic consensus that there was in fact a deliberate plan
of genocide against the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire."
Then four regional Armenian National Committees of Massachusetts sent
a joint letter to the governor and issued a press release demanding the
removal of "racist sources" from the guide, referring to them as
"genocide denial."
The final guidelines include references only to four Armenian groups.
Negotiations with Turkish groups broke down this year and the groups
decided to sue, says Mr. Silverglate.
David Driscoll, the Massachusetts commissioner of education, says his
hands are tied because of the statute's specific reference to "Armenian
genocide." "If the legislation said the world is flat and we had to
implement it, we'd have to do it," he says.
However, teachers may approach the subject any way they want,
according to Mr. Driscoll.
James Peyser, chairman of the state Board of Education, who is named in
the suit, says he's willing to consider other "academically sound" materials
about the events but "I don't think we're in a position to simply cite a Web
site that says it didn't occur."
Mr. Silverglate, the lawyer, argues that since the Turkish groups' materials
were at one point included in the teachers' guide, it's censorship to later
remove them.
He's basing that on a 1982 Supreme Court decision that says once a book
is admitted into a library on academic grounds, it can't be removed for
improper reasons. To do so violates the First Amendment of the
Constitution, the court said.
"The whole point is that it is an issue for a free marketplace of ideas to
resolve," says Mr. Silverglate.
Dikran Kaligian, chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America's
Eastern Region, says "presenting alternate viewpoints is fine if they have
some kind of legitimate basis to them." He says Turkish groups wanted to
include "Web sites that are mouthing the official Turkish position" and not
academic, peer-reviewed resources. -30-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Write to Kara Scannell at kara.scannell@wsj.com
=====================================================
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