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Vice-President Biden sets out on a tour of Ukraine & Georgia

20 July 2009 10:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The U.S. Vice-President will arrive in Ukraine for a working visit at the invitation of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
â€œThis visit proves that Ukraine is a vital strategic partners of the United States in the East European region,â€ said the presidentâ€™s press secretary Irina Vannikova.
â€œBidenâ€™s visit is important for developing a bilateral political dialogue and the Ukrainian-American strategic partnership as well as for implementing the agreements reached under the previous U.S. administration,â€ Vannikova went on to say.
Vannikova said that the first visit to Kiev by a top-ranking official from the new U.S. administration would open up opportunities for concrete steps in strengthening Ukraineâ€™s national security and bilateral cooperation in various spheres such as energy and the U.S. support for Ukraineâ€™s Euro-Atlantic integration.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that Ukraine was expecting Biden to give â€œthe final signal of U.S. support for Ukraineâ€™s course towards NATO membership.â€ The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is studying the possibility of a meeting between the Ukrainian and U.S. presidents this autumn and a working visit to Kiev of the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Biden will begin his visit with meeting the U.S. diplomats working in Ukraine. Other details of the first day of his sojourn in Kiev are kept secret.
Biden will meet Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday, July 21. The same day he is to meet Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, Parliament Speaker Vladimir Litvin, the leader of the opposition Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovich and Arseniy Yatsenyuk from the â€œFront of Changeâ€ movement. All of them have announced their intention to run for president on January 17, 2010.
Bidenâ€™s National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said that the United States didnâ€™t have favorites in the Ukrainian upcoming election and that the Washington administration wanted these elections to be free and honest. He also said that Ukraine should go ahead with economic and energy reforms. At the same time, Blinken warned that at the moment Ukraine shouldnâ€™t count on direct financial support from the United States.
On July 22, the visitâ€™s final day, Biden will meet Ukrainian businessmen and leaders of several public organizations.
The U.S. Vice-President will leave for Tbilisi on Wednesday afternoon.
In Georgia, it will be President Mikhail Saakashvili, Parliament Speaker David Bakradze and opposition leaders Irakly Alasaniya, Nino Burdzhanadze and Levan Gachechiladze.
The purpose of Joseph Bidenâ€™s visit to Ukraine and Georgia is to show Americaâ€™s support for the democratic and economic reforms in these former Soviet republics. The trip will last until Thursday.
According to Bidenâ€™s National Security Adviser Tony Blinken, the United States will continue denying the â€˜spheres of influenceâ€™ concept and will back up a principle that sovereign democracies have the right to choose their own partners and allies.
He said that the â€˜resettingâ€™ of the U.S. relations with Russia wouldnâ€™ t take place at the expense of any other country. This is what Vice-President Biden spoke of in Munich. President Barack Obama stressed the same during his visit to Moscow early in July.
Blinken said that the United States wanted to strengthen relations with various countries, including Ukraine and Georgia, on the principle of multiple partnership. Besides, both Ukraine and Georgia have seen â€˜colourâ€™ revolutions. However, each of the two countries is facing challenges of how to live up to the promises given during those revolutions. In Ukraine, it’s ailing economy and energy problems while in Georgia itâ€™s the construction of a democratic society.
Biden will also deliver speeches at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Kiev and in Georgian parliament in Tbilisi. Asked whether any of Bidenâ€™s speeches would have the same confrontational tone as the speeches of the former Vice-President Dick Cheney, Tony Blinken said that Washingtonâ€™s striving for multiple partnership was not directed against any other country.