June 17 , 2002, Brussels

On June 17 2002 in Brussels there was held EU Troika meeting with Ukraine on the OSCE issues on experts level. The following issues were under discussion:

1. Situation in Ukraine after the elections to the Parliament of Ukraine.

2. Coordinator of the OSCE projects in Ukraine.

3. Cooperation between Ukraine and the EU in the framework of OSCE

4. Financial aspects of the OSCE activities.

5. Moldova/Transdnistria

6. Belorussia

The participants agreed that recent elections to the Parliament of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada) demonstrated a strengthening of democratic processes in the country. The character of election campaign will promote further development of the strategic course of Ukraine towards integration to the EU.

As it was underlined Ukraine remains an important partner of the EU and there was achieved a lot of positive developments in bilateral relations.

Understanding was exposed to the efforts of Ukraine to gradually diminish the amount of its contribution to the OSCE budget. Ukraine is for the continuation of the dialogue on reforming the scale of contributions, which could be formed according to the UN criteria.

The efforts of mediators (Ukraine, Russia, OSCE) on Transdnistria problem settlement was highly estimated. Unsettlement of this problem will have a negative impact to the stability in the region.

As it was mentioned by Ukrainian experts the sides should exercise flexibility in the process of Belorussia and OSCE tensions settlement. As a neighboring country Ukraine in not interested in deterioration of cooperation between OSCE and Belorussia.