Mr. Chairperson,

The delegation of Ukraine warmly welcomes Ambassador Villadsen to the Permanent Council and thanks him for the presentation on activities of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine. As this is his first appearance in the PC in the new capacity, we congratulate him on the appointment and wish success in his activities.

We appreciate the established level of co-operation of the PCU with Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine welcomes and supports the important role of the PCU as part of international efforts aimed at assisting Ukraine’s Government on two crucial tracks: pursuing reforms to foster implementation of the OSCE commitments and addressing the grave impact of the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Primary focus should be accorded to addressing the consequences of the conflict in Donbas, enhancing border security, humanitarian demining, medical, psychological and social rehabilitation of former Ukrainian military servicemen, assistance to IDPs, reconstruction of infrastructure, addressing the environmental aspects and consequences of the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine.

As the mandate of the PCU covers the entire territory of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, we strongly encourage support for projects that could help to alleviate the plight of the people who live under temporary Russian occupation.

We also attach high significance to projects aiming to support the national reforms, especially in the areas outlined in the Medium-Term Government Priority Action Plan to 2020. The variety of project implementation partners among Ukrainian governmental bodies underlines the interest in enhanced cooperation to support transformations in the country.

The Government of Ukraine appreciates the close interaction with the PCU in its core activities in the fields of judicial and law-enforcement reforms, combating corruption, organized crime and human trafficking, addressing domestic violence, promoting gender equality, enhancing environmental security, good governance, energy security, freedom of the media and electoral assistance.

We see potential for greater emphasis on activities relating to cyber security in energy sector, development of public system of protection of critical infrastructure, emergency response on respective facilities as well as capacity building.

We encourage effective coordination of activities by the Project Co-ordinator with Ukrainian authorities and other stakeholders, including international donors and organizations operating in Ukraine to ensure synergies and maximize practical impact. Let me mention here the importance of the first national donor coordination forum “Partnership for Development”, hosted by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman in Kyiv last December. The goal of the forum was to systematically coordinate and align the Government of Ukraine and international donors’ priorities.

We support the PCU’s activities in all three dimensions as outlined in the Unified Budget Proposal for the year 2019 and the corresponding level of allocation of resources.

As Ambassador Villadsen has recalled today, the PCU’s activities in Ukraine are governed by the Memorandum of Understanding between Ukraine and the OSCE of 1999 ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and it is important to continue to ensure strict compliance with this document. In this context the PCU’s Strategic plan, referred to in the report, we consider to be an internal document of the PCU developed for the internal purposes.  

I once again thank Ambassador Villadsen for his today’s presentation and wish him every success in his future endeavours.

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.