Stefanishyna: Decision on MAP for Ukraine won’t be made at NATO summit in June

21.05.2021 09:48

Ukrinform

NATO continues to pursue an open-door policy and continues to support Ukraine in security and defence sector reforms, but a decision on Ukraine's Membership Action Plan is unlikely to be made at the NATO summit in June this year.

"The next summit of the Alliance will be short enough because it was supposed to take place in the fall but will be held in June. We had many meetings both at the level of NATO ambassadors and at the level of my immediate counterparts such as Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană, assistants Secretary General. We talked about some important points, the decision on the Annual National Programme and, of course, the open-door policy. We obviously understand that this year's summit is not the summit where the decision on MAP will be made," Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said during a press conference following a three-day working visit to the EU and NATO in Brussels on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

At the same time, she pointed out the importance of the fact that the discourse on obtaining a MAP exists not only in Ukraine, but in all NATO Member States as well.

"Perhaps, this is a historical process that is beginning right now, in this political cycle," Stefanishyna noted.

She informed that Ukraine and NATO had launched practical consultations on the implementation of projects under the Enhanced Opportunities Partnership based on a roadmap previously submitted to the NATO Secretary General by the President of Ukraine.

Separate talks between Ukraine and NATO during the visit, according to the Deputy Prime Minister, focused on strengthening intelligence data sharing, especially in the context of the recent escalation in the east.

"By the end of this year, we expect appropriate technical decisions to be made technically possible on our part. In addition, General Khomchak [Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine] visited the NATO Headquarters at that time. We discussed issues of strengthening our cooperation on Ukraine’s involvement in international exercises, including those related to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty [on collective defence]," Stefanishyna said.