On September 9, a regular meeting of the Commission for Coordination of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine chaired by Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna took place.

The participants of the meeting discussed the progress of implementation of the National Security and Defense Council's decision on urgent measures to deepen Ukraine's integration into NATO dated June 4, the implementation of the Annual National Program under the auspices of the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NPC) for 2021 and elaboration of the draft ANP for 2022, assessment of gender impact in the security and defense sector of Ukraine, as well as other issues.

“Annual national programs, which are as close as possible to the NATO Membership Action Plan in terms of form and content, remain our roadmap for reforms, in line with which Ukraine is moving towards future membership in the Alliance. Thanks to the coordinated work of government agencies, we have a good indicator for the implementation of tasks from the Annual National Program. ANP-2021 is being successfully implemented,” said Olha Stefanishyna.

The Deputy Prime Minister also noted that it is essential in Ukraine's close cooperation with the Alliance to realize the benefits of NATO's Enhanced Opportunities Program.

“Ukraine has developed a roadmap for participation in the Program, which is currently being considered at Alliance headquarters. These issues concern various aspects, including the participation of the Ukrainian military in NATO exercises under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty - Collective Defense, opportunities for the exchange of classified information with NATO countries, the appointment of representatives from Ukraine to NATO command structures and more," said Olha Stefanishyna.

During the meeting of the Commission, the intermediate results of the work on establishing the exchange of information with limited access in electronic form between the state bodies of Ukraine and the relevant NATO institutions were discussed.

The Deputy Prime Minister also placed an emphasis on the importance of launching the defense procurement process in line with the new law "On Defense Procurement".

The Commission’s meeting participants also focused on gender assessment in the defense and security sector.

In addition, the issue of holding a national cyber defense competition in Ukraine in 2021, as well as the NATO TIDE Hackaton (Technology for Information, Decision and Execution) competition in 2022 were considered.

“Such competitions play an important role for the country's defense potential. They help to establish cooperation between employees of the defense and security sector and IT experts to solve common tasks of the security and defense sector,” explained Olha Stefanishyna.

Meanwhile, the North Atlantic Alliance has already made a positive decision to hold an international TIDE Hackathon competition in Ukraine in 2022.

“This is a strong political signal from NATO, as no country not being a member of the Alliance has so far acted as a host country for such competitions for programming professionals,” stressed Olha Stefanishyna.

The next meeting of the Commission for the Coordination of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, chaired by Olha Stefanishyna, will take place in October this year and will be devoted to discussing a wide range of issues of cooperation with NATO on security and defense issues.