Ambassador Taylor's Podcast for June

Dobroho Dnia!

Welcome back to the United States Embassy in Kyiv where we represent the United States in all of Ukraine. I'm very glad to be back and talk to you about some of the events and activities that we've been engaged in over the past month.

This month we've had a couple of visitors, and I've made some trips. Our first big visitor this month was the Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez. The Secretary of Commerce in the United States is like the Minister of Economy in Ukraine, except that the Secretary focuses a lot on trade. He focuses a lot on American companies selling to the world, and being sure that other countries' firms can sell to the United States. So he focuses a lot on Commerce. And this was the first time that the Secretary of Commerce has visited Ukraine, so this is a big deal.

This was a demonstration that the economy here in Ukraine is growing, exports from Ukraine to the United States are growing, imports from the United States into Ukraine are growing, and the Secretary wanted to show to Ukrainians and the rest of the world his respect for, and appreciation of, this dynamic economy here in Ukraine. So this was a very good visit.

He had a very good opportunity to speak with the President and the Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy, Mr. Danylyshyn to exchange ideas about how this trade, how this commerce can expand.

One of the ways this trade can expand is an improvement in the investment climate. An improvement in the investment climate will enable more Americans to sell more things to Ukrainians and to invest in an expansion of Ukrainians firms.

A couple of things they talked about: One was how important it is when a contract is signed to honor that contract. There are provisions for changes to contracts in all of these, but those provisions need to be followed. There are also provisions on how to resolve disputes. In every contract, in businesses and in other parts of life, there are disputes. This is no problem. This happens all the time. The question is how these disputes are resolved. Many times people will go to court, so the courts have to work in Ukraine. The courts have to work to solve business disputes.

There is need for additional laws and reforms to the judicial system. The judicial system has problems as Ukrainians know, and this kind of change, reform and improvement in the judicial system will also improve the investment climate.

There are new tax laws that are being worked on. These tax laws have been in the mill for some time and these would help to improve the business climate as well.

This was a very productive visit, and I'm hoping that this will lead to an expansion of trade between our two countries.

The second visit just took place last week, and this was a visit of the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and all of the ambassadors to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO has its headquarters in Brussels. Every NATO country, all 26 NATO allies have ambassadors in Brussels that sit around a table known as the North Atlantic Council, the NAC.

So the North Atlantic Council visited Ukraine last week. They visited Kyiv; again talked with the President, talked with Prime Minister, talked with the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, talked with a lot of Ukrainians. Then, the 26 Ambassadors split up around the country - some went to Lviv, some went to Kharkiv, some went to Dnipropetrovsk. In those three cities they had conversations with Ukrainians, with officials, with unofficials, with non-governmental organizations; they had an opportunity to talk to Ukrainians about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, about NATO. They were not here to convince Ukraine to join NATO. That was not their mission. They were here to answer questions, to explain to Ukrainians what it means to be a member.

As we know, the decision on whether or not Ukraine is actually going to join NATO has not been made. As we know, the decision on whether or not Ukraine will actually join NATO will be made by Ukrainians. It won't be made by 26 NATO ambassadors coming from Brussels. It won't be made by a summit of heads of state. The decisions whether or not Ukraine wants to join NATO is a question for Ukraine. That decision will take place - it will be presented to Ukrainians - in two, or five, or eight years in a referendum. So the Ukrainian people will get to make that decision, but they will make that decision based on good information. What these Ambassadors were doing in these three - four cities including Kyiv - around this country, was trying to answer their questions. They know, NATO knows, the French, the Germans, the Dutch, the Americans, the Canadians, the Poles, the Slovaks, the Czechs, all the members of NATO, they know that Ukrainians have questions about, and perfectly legitimate questions about what it means to be a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

So we're here to answer questions, not to push Ukraine one way or the other. This is a decision that you Ukrainians will make when the time comes, and when you have all these questions answered.

The third trip that I will talk about actually was a trip that I made, actually a couple of trips to Chernivtsi over the last couple of months. I was very impressed with Chernivtsi. I enjoyed this town greatly. I was very impressed, of course, with the National University of Chernivtsi, a beautiful structure, a beautiful building, with new tiles on the roof that were made by the original manufacturer of these tiles.

I was there a couple of times to open different study programs. The first time was actually a NATO information program, a NATO study program a couple of months ago. A couple of weeks ago I was there to open an American studies program, an American Summer Institute. This American Summer Institute in Chernivtsi gave many students and teachers and faculty the opportunity to get together, talk about American history, American politics, American studies. This, of course, is an interesting year for American politics - we have an election, too. Ukrainians have had elections and elections and elections, and Americans are finally having one of theirs. This fall, the American people will elect the next President of the United States. This election campaign has been a very interesting one, and I got a lot of question in Chernivtsi from faculty and students asking about the American politics and the American elections. This summer, this American Studies Program will have an opportunity to focus on the American elections and it has already been a topic of great interest. So that was a great opportunity for Ukrainians and Americans to get together and talk about their respective sets of politics.

This is a great time for Ukraine. I'm looking forward to having an opportunity to talk with you again next month. Thank you very much.