International Conference “Political Transformation of NATO and Strategy for Further Expansion. Challenges and Prospects for Ukraine”

On June 12, 2008, the international conference “Political Transformation of NATO and Strategy for Further Expansion. Challenges and Prospects for Ukraine” was held with support from the International Renaissance Foundation. It was organized by the Center for European and Transatlantic Studies. Partners included the Charitable Foundation “Mission for Intellectual Initiatives”, Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association and Prague Security Studies Institute.

The work of the conference focused on achieving the key goal – developing theoretical and practical recommendations for suitable Euro-Atlantic aspirations for Ukraine, the start of implementation of a new expansion strategy for the Alliance on the background of key trends in NATO’s political development as the sole mechanisms for security and military cooperation in the transatlantic environment. 

Key speeches were made by: Dr. Jiří Schneider, leading analyst at the Prague Security Studies Institute – “NATO: Scenarios for the Future”; Dr.  Marek Madea (Polish Security Affairs Institute) – “Absence of a New Strategic Concept for the Future Transformation of NATO”; former Polish Ambassador to NATO Jerzy Nowak (Center for International Relations, Warsaw) “NATO and Ukraine: Future of Relations. View from NATO Headquarters and Warsaw”; Professor Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı (Middle East Technical University, Ankara) “How Turkey Perceives the Development of the Security Situation in the Black Sea Region Following NATO Expansion”; Dr. Ivo Samson (Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association) “NATO’s Future – the Future of Global Security Risk: Continuation of Expansion or Global Capitulation?”; Serhiy Herasymchuk (Security Studies Group, Ukraine) “Global Partnership as the First Step to Full Membership in NATO”, and others.

Conference participants agreed nearly unilateral that in order to achieve its strategic foreign policy priorities, first and foremost in the context of Euro-Atlantic integration, Ukraine must radically change its policy to be based on the following algorithm: “Feel as if it’s almost a member of the Alliance, in order to find adequate answers to NATO’s transformational challenges, given the very complicated and highly unpredictable security and military situation in the world.” This position will provide a real chance for conducting reforms in accordance with internal NATO reform processes. Special attention should be given to the start of the process of preparing a new Strategic Concept for NATO, possible transformation of the NATO expansion process, relations between NATO and the EU and their impact on Ukraine’s prospects for membership in the Alliance, developments in Afghanistan as the key challenge for NATO’s future.

Conference participants included Ukrainian experts working in the field of Euro-Atlantic integration, representatives of the Secretariats of the President of Ukraine and Cabinet of Ministers, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Security and Defense Council, National Center for Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, NATO Liaison Office in Ukraine, representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, diplomatic missions in Ukraine, analysts, experts and media representatives. For more information, visit:

https://www.irf.ua/ua/programs/eui/eu/news/?doc:int=6173

Contact persons:

Oleksiy Kolomiyets + 38 (044) 454-11-56, +38 (067) 681-95-82, europekolomiyets@ukr.net

Vitaliy Martyniuk + 38 (095) 571-01-33, muvitalii@meta.ua

			Daryna Nakonechna, European Program Project Coordinator tel: +380 (44) 461 9500 | fax: +380 (44) 486 0166 email: nakonechna@irf.kiev.ua office: Kyiv, Bekhterevsky Lane, 13-a, room 5