US and Ukraine Continue Strategic Partnership on the Rule of Law

KYIV, Ukraine, July 8, 2011 -

As the result of the regular meeting
of the Political Dialogue and Rule of Law, the Ukrainian-American
Working Group reached an agreement to continue strategic
partnership based on the principles of transparency and
openness.

The Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the United States Department
of State Thomas O. Melia is making his official visit to Ukraine to
participate in the regular meeting of the Political Dialogue and
Rule of Law Working Group that is functioning within the framework
of the Ukrainian-American Commission on Strategic Partnership. The
Ambassador of the United States to Ukraine John F. Tefft was also
present at the meeting of the working group.

The Attorney General of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka met the US
representatives to discuss the current status of the Prosecutor
General’s office in Ukraine and the perspectives of the US-Ukraine
cooperation in the area of criminal justice and the rule of law in
Ukraine. During the meeting with Melia and Tefft, Pshonka informed
his American colleagues that the Prosecutor’s General Office
continues working on several draft laws on reforming of the public
prosecution system and the Criminal Procedures Code of Ukraine.
Special attention was paid to the issues of humanization and
decriminalization of the criminal procedure, fight against
corruption and especially the provision of the rule of law in
Ukraine that is to be guaranteed by the reforms currently held in
the field.

Ukrainian-American Commission on Strategic Partnership was first
incepted in 2009 but only in early 2011 the institution was taken
to a new level with top officials representing each country - the
Minister of Foreign Affairs Kostyantyn Hryshchenko for Ukraine and
the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton for the United States during
their meeting in Washington, USA.

Cooperation between the United States and Ukraine started in
1991 with the recognition of the Ukrainian independence and
sovereignty. Collaboration was first documented in the 1994
trilateral agreement between the US, Russia, and Ukraine on
dismantling Ukraine’s nuclear weapons and deploying them to Russia
within 7 years. By the end of 2008 United States-Ukraine Charter on
Strategic Partnership was signed confirming and widening the
commitments made by the presidents of both states in 2005.

For more information, contact Maria Ivanova +380443324784 news at wnu-ukraine.com, Project Manager at Worldwide News Ukraine