Civil society should contribute to Ukraine’s foreign policy, announced Arseniy Yatsenyuk, founder of Open Ukraine Foundation.
BERLIN (Germany),--Non-governmental organizations are an essential supplement to Ukraine-EU bilateral relations, said Arseniy Yatsenyuk, founder of Open Ukraine Foundation, on April 28, 2009 at the meeting with representatives of German political, scientific and business elite.
“We shall support our foreign policy through NGOs” said Mr. Yatsenyuk, while talking about the reputation of Ukraine and Ukrainian foreign relations’ perspectives. With regards to Open Ukraine Foundation, Mr. Yatsenyuk mentioned Diplomatic Club and Kyiv Security Forum that were launched “in order to attract foreign politicians and business leaders who can deliver new messages to the Ukrainian society and who can listen to Ukrainian citizens”.
As to the foreign policy, Mr. Yatsenyuk emphasized that Ukraine should start reshaping the Ukrainian-Russian relations, and take new approach to the European Union — both relationships should be based on pragmatic approach and be economically predictable.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk mentioned that building strong civil society, as a major aspect of the development of Ukraine and its reputation, is a key challenge for Ukrainian citizens: “We have reached a lot, but we need to do more – people have to be interested in having civil society”.
