Conference: Ukraine's Choice - Europe or Russia

Friday, December 10, 2004 - 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM

Despite campaign irregularities, the first round of the Ukrainian presidential election on October 31 was an increasingly rare event on the territory of the former Soviet Union: a genuinely contested election. Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych will face each other in the run-off that will take place on November 21. The outcome will likely determine Ukraine's destiny for years to come. Will Ukraine opt for integration with the West or with the Commonwealth of Independent States? Will it remain a democracy, or will it become a "managed democracy" like some of its neighbors? On International Human Rights Day, please join the New Atlantic Initiative at the American Enterprise Institute and our partners, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Freedom House, the International Republican Institute, the National Endowment for Democracy, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, for a conference that seeks to assess Ukraine's geopolitical orientation after the presidential elections.

8:45 a.m. Registration and continental breakfast

9:00 Welcome: Radek Sikorski, executive director, NAI
Introduction: Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for global affairs
Oleh Shamshur, deputy minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine

9:30 Ukraine's Economy: Converging with the European Union or with the Common Economic Space?
Speakers: Valery Pyatnyskyi, first deputy minister of economy and European integration of Ukraine
Pawel Wolowski, director for Ukraine, Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw
Larysa Denysenko, program director, Transparency International–Kyiv office
Oleksandr Sushko, director, Center for Peace, Conversion, and Foreign Policy of Ukraine
Moderator: Donald Jensen, director of communications, RFE/RL

10:45 Break

11:00 Successes and Failures of Ukraine’s Civil Society
Speakers: Roman Kupchinsky, former director, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Broadcasting Service
Vyacheslav Briukhovetsky, National University of Kyiv–Mohyla Academy
Adrian Karatnycky, counselor and senior scholar, Freedom House
Olena Prytula, editor in chief, internet periodical Ukrains'ka Pravda
Ihor Popov, head, Committee of Voters
Inna Pidluska, president, Europe XXI Foundation
Andriy Shevchenko, news director, Channel 5
Moderator: Nadia Diuk, director for Central Europe and Eurasia, NED

1:00 p.m. Luncheon
Keynote Speaker: Senator Chuck Hagel (invited)

2:00 Ukraine's Armed Forces: On the Way to Join NATO?
Speakers: James Sherr, UK Defense Academy
Igor S. Kozii, head, general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces, department for Euro-Atlantic integration
Evgheni Marchuk, former Ukrainian minister of defense (invited)
Anatoliy Sobora, lt. general, commanding officer, Ukrainian troops in Iraq (invited)
Moderator: Radek Sikorski, executive director, NAI; resident fellow, AEI

3:00 A Geopolitical Assessment
Speakers: Borys Tarasyuk, head of the European Integration Commission, Ukrainian Parliament
John E. Herbst, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine (invited)

3:30 Conference Adjournment

5:30 Reception
Speaker: Zbigniew Brzezinski, trustee and counselor, Center for Strategic and International Studies (invited)

7:30 Reception and Adjournment

American Enterprise Institute
Wohlstetter Conference Center
Twelfth Floor
1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036

Reception held at the Freedom House Main Office Building, Second Floor, 1319 Eighteenth Street, N.W., Washington.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Heather Dresser
1150 17th St. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-862-5884
Fax: 202-862-7171
E-mail: HDresser@aei.org

 



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