On 28 August, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna chaired a videoconference meeting of the Commission for Coordination of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine.

The meeting was attended by representatives of ministries, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, the National Police, the State Border Guard Service, and other government agencies and institutions.

The main topic of discussion was the development of an adapted Annual National Programme (aANP) within the framework of NATO-Ukraine cooperation.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that following the NATO Summit in Vilnius, the Alliance leaders decided in a joint communiqué that Ukraine’s progress would be regularly assessed through the adapted Annual National Programme (aANP).

“Our task now is to formulate a consolidated Ukrainian position on the content of the aANP for discussion with our partners. It is important to be proactive. Ukraine’s position is that the process of developing the aANP should be carried out jointly – by us and NATO – on an equal footing,” stressed Olha Stefanishyna.

She presented the meeting participants with the Ukrainian side’s conceptual vision of the aANP and a list of priority areas to be included in the programme, taking into account the Vilnius Summit Communiqué, the Joint Declaration and the recommendations of Alliance representatives.

The priority areas include, in particular, reforming law enforcement agencies, strengthening civilian control over the security and defence sector, anti-corruption policy, achieving interoperability with NATO and development of the security and defence sector of Ukraine. The aANP should retain the general structure of five chapters focusing on: political and economic issues; defence and military issues; resources; security issues; and legal issues.

“The main idea behind our vision of the aANP is to simultaneously take into account the Vilnius Summit Communiqué, the Joint Declaration and NATO’s recommendations, to use NATO’s methodology for programming, and to simplify bureaucratic procedures related to the development, implementation, reporting and evaluation of the aANP, following the example of the implementation of the European Commission’s seven recommendations on Ukraine’s EU candidate status,” the Deputy Prime Minister explained.

She also stressed that the Annual National Programme should be adapted to the realities of the full-scale armed aggression by the russian federation against Ukraine.

“The tasks set out in the aANP should be aimed at increasing the country’s defence capability and creating conditions in Ukraine that will not allow the aggressor to achieve its goals,” Olha Stefanishyna said.

The Deputy Prime Minister also emphasised the need to harmonise the processes of European and Euro-Atlantic integration, especially in view of the active dynamics of Ukraine’s simultaneous preparations for EU and NATO accession.

“In particular, the so-called block of democratic reforms is already included in seven recommendations of the European Commission on Ukraine’s EU candidate status. This block will be included in a similar form in the aANP,” the Deputy Prime Minister explained.

After further revision, taking into account the suggestions made during the meeting, the draft priority areas to be included in the aANP and the conceptual vision will be submitted to the NATO side for further joint discussion.