The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine at its meeting approved the draft Presidential Decree On Approval of the Annual National Program (ANP) under the auspices of the NATO-Ukraine Commission for 2019.
This decision was made at a meeting on Jan. 30. The document was submitted to the president for consideration, the Cabinet’s press service reported.
The draft was developed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in synergy with the Government Office for the Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers.
“We adopt this document for the first time in a completely different form compared to those we approved for many years since the Bucharest Summit in 2008. Finally, it is strategic and systemic. We have improved its structure and content for several years and finally came to a completely new format, which encapsulates our strategic and concrete goals,” Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said at the government meeting on Jan. 30.
During consultations with the Ukrainian side, the leadership of NATO positively assessed the government’s new vision during the formation of the ANP and highly appreciated the innovative approaches to the development of this important strategic document on reforms.
“This document for the first time prevents inclusion of formal and needless tasks and activities. For the first time, we introduced key performance indicators. This will enable us to practically bring Ukraine closer to membership in the North Atlantic Alliance and to fulfill the tasks needed to ensure effective, purposeful and systematic work to prepare for our NATO membership, which is already envisaged by the Ukrainian legislation and, I hope, will be enshrined in the Constitution”, she said.
It is reported that the Annual National Program under the auspices of the Ukraine-NATO Commission is the systemic strategic document in the sphere of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, providing transition of the security and defense sector to the NATO principals and standards. The ANP is aimed at achieving compliance with the criteria for NATO membership, strengthening democracy, political, economic, judicial reforms, electoral legislation reforms, education, science, health care, economic growth, fighting corruption, improving the well-being of citizens, reforming the security and defense sector – in accordance with the Alliance’s recommendations. The ANP is harmonized with the key strategic documents of Ukraine, including the Strategic Defense Bulletin, the Government Action Plan, the Strategy for Sustainable Development of Ukraine-2020, the Law of Ukraine “On National Security” and others.
