Topic: "Towards a Secure and Stable Ukraine and Black Sea Region"
Kyiv - NATO Parliamentary Assembly, in cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and with the support of the Government of Switzerland and the NATO Information and Documentation Centre in Ukraine (NIDC), is organising the 95th Rose-Roth Seminar, with the topic "Towards a Secure and Stable Ukraine and Black Sea Region", in the period 3-5 July 2017, in Kyiv, Ukraine.
On the first day of the Seminar, participants of the gathering were welcomed, in the role of moderator and keynote speaker, by Ms Iryna Friz, Head of the Ukrainian Delegation to the NATO PA and Member of the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council (UNIC), followed by speeches of Mr Andriy Parubiy, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Mr Paolo Alli, President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Mr Christoph Späti, Chargé d'affaires a.i. of Switzerland to Ukraine, and Ms Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. After that, the participants were addressed, with a presentation, by Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, Former Deputy Secretary General of NATO, representative of the Atlantic Council of the United States.
Mr Paolo Alli, President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, moderated the Session I, with the topic "Russia, NATO and the Black Sea Region", with addresses by: Mr Pavel Felgenhauer, Independent Moscow-based Defence Analyst; Mr James Sherr, representative of the Chatham House, Associate Fellow with the Russia and Eurasia Programme, as well as Mr Andrew Budd, Head of Defence Capabilities Section at NATO Defence Policy and Capabilities Directorate.
In the context of the topic, based on the presentations, participants of the 95th Rose-Roth Seminar discussed the issues of Russia's and NATO's relations, the Black Sea region, with particular reference to current political developments in this area, external and internal conditions, challenges and opportunities for their overcoming.
In the continuation of the 95th Rose Roth Seminar, ceremonial gathering has been organised in the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of signing the NATO-Ukraine Charter, with an introductory speech by Mr Andriy Parubiy, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and participants were addressed by: Mr Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine; Ambassaodr Sorin Dumitru Ducaru, Assistant Secretary General at the Emergency Security Challenges Division, representative of the NATO HQ; Mr Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr Borys Tarasyuk, Head of the Mission of Ukraine to NATO in 1997; Mr Robert Hunter, U.S. Ambassador to NATO in 1997 and Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins University (SAIS); Mr Paolo Alli, President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly; Mr Volodymyr Horbulin, Director of the Institute of National Security Problems at the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, with the closing argument by Ms Iryna Friz, Head of the Permanent Delegation of Ukraine to the NATO PA. In the final part, members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly were addressed by Mr Andriy Parubiy, President of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
This NATO PA Seminar aims to provide a parliamentary-level forum, regarding security issues between leading lawmakers of NATO Member States and their counterparts from partner countries and implement discussions on internal and external challenges that Ukraine has been facing, security in the region of the Black Sea, possibilities of closer economic cooperation in this area, and during discussions make a retrospection of the situation in Moldova.
The Seminar has gathered around 100 participants, parliamentarians from NATO Member States and partner countries, as well as representatives of governments and international organisations, non-governmental sector, universities, and representatives of public opinion.
Rose-Roth Seminar continues tomorrow.
