Ukraine agrees to NATO enhanced opportunities program

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on July 9 that the Ukrainian government reached an agreement with NATO to participate in its Enhanced Opportunities Program that will lead to a partnership with widened opportunities. The new status will also require conducting reforms within the framework of its Strategic Defense Bulletin, he told a press conference following a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission held in Warsaw. Ukraine’s planned new format of cooperation was included in the summary decision of the Ukraine-NATO Commission, he said. Those nations already participating in the program are Australia, Finland, Sweden, Jordan and Georgia.

NATO members approved a new complex aid package for Ukraine to reform its defense sector, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the joint press conference with Poroshenko. “Ukraine remains devoted to reforms and fighting corruption,” he said. “We will continue to give practical and political support.” The aid package will enable a complete rebuilding of Ukraine’s security and defense sectors to reach NATO standards by 2020, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on the eve of the conference, as reported by the eurointegration.com.ua news site. No amount can be named because the funding will be consistently renewed as part of various programs, Klimkin said.

NATO will strengthen cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia out of concern for the situation with security in the Black Sea region, said the Warsaw Declaration of the July 9 NATO summit. “The situation with security in the Black Sea region worsened in recent years,” the declaration said. “We will continue to struggle with the consequences of recent events in the region and take them into account in developing new approaches and policies of the alliance,” it said.

Zenon Zawada: The NATO summit was a success for Ukraine, in light of the new agreements reached and new funding secured. Moreover, Poroshenko used the visit to boost Polish support when honoring a painful chapter in Ukrainian-Polish history and announcing a planned visit by the Polish President Andrzej Duda to Ukraine for Independence Day on August 24.

All the ongoing media buzz about NATO membership – which Stoltenberg reiterated is not on NATO’s agenda – is a distraction from what is most important for Ukraine, and what was achieved this weekend, which is closer cooperation in reforming and modernizing Ukraine’s defense sector.