TRANSCRIPT OF AMBASSADOR TAYLOR'S PODCAST FOR MAY
Dobry Den.
I'm very glad to be here again for this second podcast, talking to people in Ukraine about what the United States Embassy has been doing for the past month. First of all, I'm very glad to have been here during May for the holidays where Ukrainians celebrated May Day as well as Victory Day and are just now getting back to work. We do the same thing in the United States - we remember people who have fallen, who have died defending freedom and it's right and it's important that Ukrianians do the same thing.
The Ukrainian Government is now getting back to work, and there's a lot of work to be done. On the political front we have been pleased that the President and the Prime Minister have gotten together and have worked out a political compromise on how to move forward. There's work to be done on this political compromise, there are details to be spelled out. But the good thing is that the President and the Prime Minister are working together on this. That's going to be important to continue. I've been meeting with both of them. I am encouraged that they intend to take advantage of this political problem, so that once the problem is solved, Ukraine will be more democratic, it will be more united, it will be more European. If those goals can be accomplished, then all of this political turmoil that has been seen on the streets of Kyiv for the past month will be worth it. That's an important outcome.
On the economic front, May has been a good month. We were very pleased to see a large American firm open a business, open a facility in Borispyl near the airport - Max-well. Max-well provides people, cancer patients, with cancer drugs and with cancer treatments. So the first benefit of Max-well's opening is that people's lives will be better. People will be healthier not just in Ukraine also in all of this region. In addition, this is the largest high tech investment that Americans have made in Ukraine. This is important because this is an area where more U.S. investors would like to come and to see Max-well moving forward in this high tech area is a good encouragement to other American investors to provide their money, to bring their expertise and to open facilities and hire Ukrianians into jobs here in this country. So we think this is important. We hope that Max-well will do well. We hope that they will make some money as well as providing good equipment and good increases in people's health and life spans.
Also, this is the 15th anniversary of the American Chamber of Commerce here in Ukraine. The American chamber started in 1992. They are now up to 500 firms. They've got firms not just from the United States, but also from other countries in Europe and other parts of the world. They've been doing good work in improving the investment climate here in Ukraine so that others will follow.
Finally on the economic front, the World Trade Organization process moves forward. Your government has been doing very good work, the Ukrainian government has been doing very good work in moving forward toward acceding - joining - the World Trade Organization. They have been doing good work here in Kyiv. They are also working with the World Trade Organization staff in Geneva. There is no stronger supporter of Ukraine's entry into the World Trade Organization than the United States. We've been working closely with the Ministry of Economy and other parts of the government to help them move forward and to help them get into the WTO we hope this year. One important component of the political solution needs to be the Rada coming back into work because there is at least one or two more pieces of legislation that have to be passed in order for Ukraine to complete its accession process into the World Trade Organization. Accession is important for another reason, not just because of the economic benefits it gives to Ukraine, but also it's a political step toward Europe. As soon as the World Trade Organization accepts Ukraine as a member, the European Union will begin its trade negotiations with Ukraine for a free trade area. And this will be a very important economic step as well as a political step for Ukraine to move into Europe.
Finally, today I would like to remember that this month we celebrated world press freedom day. Press freedom is important around the world, it's important in the United States and it's important here in Ukraine. One of the biggest positives, one of the biggest achievements, accomplishments of the Orange Revolution of three years ago is a dramatic step forward in press freedom. Press freedom is important for the government to be held accountable. It's important for anti-corruption efforts. Journalists who explore and probe and examine the work of the government and the work of government officials play a major role in reducing corruption and improving the rights of citizens, the ability of citizens to know what their government is doing.
Press freedom is one of the several reasons that I am optimistic about the future of Ukraine, and I look forward to further discussions with you next month.
Thank you.