During a working visit to Washington DC, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze met with NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations Jonathan Parish.

During the talks, the parties discussed the state and prospects for further implementation of the NATO Building Integrity program aimed at strengthening integrity, transparency and accountability and reducing the risk of corruption in the defence and security sector Building Integrity Initiative (BI) program in Ukraine and the intensification of cooperation in a number of areas.

In particular, Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze emphasized on the increase in the dynamics of implementation of the BI Program in Ukraine this year and the next round of self-assessment of the security and defense sector structures in terms of identifying corruption risks.

«The priority task in the context of the implementation of the BI Program for 2019 will be the completion in May-June of the second stage of the Third Self-Assessment of the national structures of the security and defense sector. As a result of this event, we are expecting a report from NATO that will be discussed during the Ukraine-NATO Commission meeting», she said.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that Ukraine views participation in the BI Program as a powerful tool to help us develop the capacity to strengthen integrity, transparency, accountability and reduce corruption in the defense and security sectors. Meanwhile, according to Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ukraine clearly understands that we need to adjust our participation in this Program, focusing, in particular, on the promotion of institutional changes, the formulation of policies and the further improvement of professional skills of personnel.

«It is possible to achieve this through the integral development of such key elements in our security and defense institutions as strategy, system, style, skills, personnel and overriding goals», the representative of the Ukrainian Government noted.

In his turn, Jonathan Parish expressed gratitude to the Deputy Prime Minister on behalf of NATO for her high activity and practical interaction in the direction of Euro-Atlantic integration and ensuring effective inter-agency coordination, in particular, within the framework of the implementation of the BI Program.

«In order to achieve the strategic goal of Ukraine, it is critically important to maintain and further develop the institution of Euro-Atlantic integration specialists", NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General said.

Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze invited the NATO experts involved in the BI Program to continue to study further these important areas for Ukraine, and thanked the NATO BI team for their high level of attention to the implementation of this program in Ukraine.

Background

Building Integrity Initiative (ВІ) is a NATO-led capacity building programme providing practical tools to help nations strengthen integrity, transparency, and accountability and reduce the risk of corruption in the defense and security sector, launched in 2007 with the joint approval of member states of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) to support the Partnership Action Plan on Defense Institution Building (PAP-DIB). The BI Program provides practical tools to help participating countries strengthen integrity, transparency, and accountability and reduce the risk of corruption in the defense and security sector. It promotes good practice, processes, and methodologies, and provides countries with tailored support to make defense and security institutions more effective. Ukraine officially joined the Program on May 21, 2008.