Мета проведення Дня України в ОЕСР - обговорення стану реформ в Україні та можливості співпраці міжнародних субєктів, які беруть участь в процесі стабілізації та здійсненні реформ в Україні.

Участь  у заході взяв Генеральний секретар ОЕСР А.Гурріа, Міністр економічного розвитку і торгівлі України А.Абромавічус, державні секретарі міністерств закордонних справ країн Вишеградської четвірки, представники міжнародні організацій та дипломати з країн-членів ОЕСР.

Ще до початку Дня України Міністр М. Лайчак мав особисту зустріч і переговори з Генеральним секретарем ОЕСР А.Гурріа та Міністром економічного розвитку і торгівлі України A.Абромавічусом, під час якої були обговорені стан реформ в Україні та поточна ситуація у сфері економіки та в галузі безпеки.

У своєму виступі*, Віце-премʼєр-міністр і Міністр закордонних справ і європейських питань СР М. Лайчак зазначив, що ОЕСР має певні інструменти і знання, щоб допомогти в модернізації України, а також досвід допомоги у перетворенні Центральної Європи, яким можна поділитися з Україною.

Зокрема, М.Лайчак сказав: „Словаччина, як надійний друг і сусід, буде і надалі продовжувати допомагати Україні у здійсненні реформ і стабілізації  країни як на двосторонньому, так і багатосторонньому рівнях”. При цьому він наголосив: „Якщо ми дійсно хочемо, щоб Україна в її зусиллях відносно реалізації реформ домоглася успіху, ми повинні забезпечити їй ще більшу підтримку, ніж раніше. Я не маю на увазі - більше грошей. Я говорю про стратегічну допомогу у здійсненні реформ, забезпечення бачення та координацію зовнішньої допомоги, якої сьогодні все ще не вистачає, незважаючи на безсумнівну налаштованість на реформи  українських урядових органів”.

Він також підкреслив, що фактична реалізація реформ на практиці залежить від українських властей, нагадавши, що український уряд повинен ретельно розʼяснювати громадянам значення зусиль щодо реалізації реформ, які, хоча в даний час і є болючими, в кінцевому рахунку, країна і її жителі від них матимуть позитивний результат.

Віце-премʼєр-міністр і Міністр закордонних справ і європейських питань СР М. Лайчак зазначив: „Уже в лютому ми домовилися про те, що іноземна допомога для України повинна бути ретельно координованою з тим, щоб найкращим чином використовувати все, що надають партнери Уряду в Києві. Сьогодні перший крок у напрямку більш тісної співпраці між міжнародними субʼєктами”.

    

          

 

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June 16, 2015, Tuesday                                                                                                                   OECD, Paris

Day of Ukraine at OECD

Implementation of the Action Plan for strengthening cooperation between OECD and Ukraine

Speech by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign & European
Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajčák

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends of Ukraine,

I am really glad we are meeting here today — almost exactly four months after we discussed Ukraine and the importance of reforms with Secretary General Gurria and the OECD Ambassadors.

In February we were talking about our seriousness in helping Ukraine. And we agreed that the external assistance provided from outside should be orchestrated on the broadest possible level. To create a synergy and closely coordinate with other international organizations, such as OECD, with their own niche and specific capacities where they can perform much better having abundant expertise and field experience.

In that context I suggested holding a thematic „Ukraine Day" here at the OECD. I am pleased that the idea was picked up and today we can make a first step to strengthen this dialogue.

As I said in February, we need to focus more on putting more concrete projects into practice with Kyiv. The OECD engagement in areas such as anti-corruption, public and corporate governance, tax administration and reform of the state-owned enterprises has a serious potential to bring some order into the Ukrainian institutional muddle along with what many of us already do bilaterally.

Speaking about the ongoing assistance, I can assure our Ukrainian friends, that

Slovakia as a reliable and predictable partner and neighbour will continue its activities to help your country in the reform and stabilisation process on both – the bilateral and multilateral track.

According to the latest public opinion polls … only 31% of Ukrainians consider the country’s stabilization efforts effective … and more than 50% are completely or almost completely discontented with how things in the country are progressing … or rather … not progressing.

15% drop of the economy … growing social tensions … foreign troops and weaponry amidst the ongoing war in the South-East … These all are not facts that help the efforts of the Ukrainian leadership to get the country’s integrity and stability back on track.

Last Monday, I was speaking at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Berlin and at one point I said that a great deal of the country’s future fate depends solely on Ukraine and its people.

This is the ultimate lesson learned from what the Visegrad region had been through in the early years of our transition … long before we became an integral part of Europe. This is also something that is becoming ever more obvious and inevitable to many across the Western Balkans and also some in our fellow Eastern Partnership countries.

Yet … in order to have the picture complete, Slovakia or the Visegrad countries … we were never left alone in our efforts … we had the ownership … the will … the commitment … the public support … but we received a lot of help and assistance from our friends and allies.

On top of that, we never had to deal with war-like circumstances and fight for the basics such as territorial integrity … or face a near-collapse of the state.

This is exactly what we have to keep in mind and remember ourselves of … as we might have forgotten. My strong conviction is that, if we really want Ukraine to succeed, we need to give it a much stronger support than today.

I am not speaking about more money … I am speaking about strategic assistance with reforms … about vision and coordination that is apparently lacking today … despite the indisputable effort on the side of Ukrainian central and local authorities.

This is what Slovakia and other neighbors and friends of Ukraine are trying to achieve … to engage as many institutional partners and existing assistance frameworks as possible … the EU … the OSCE … and now we encourage an ever stronger interaction with the OECD.

I do believe that the implementation of the recently signed Action Plan and its ambitious work programme has a huge potential to support Ukraine’s economic and political transformation … in uneasy times when the country’s fragile stability is being continually and deliberately undermined from the near outside.

Setting concrete actions in areas like anti-corruption, public governance, business and investment climate will help Kyiv to address its policy challenges … and aid the ambitious reform process that will be everything but easy and without pain.

Adherence to relevant OECD legal instruments, reviews and recommendations will boost Ukraine’s institutional capacity and policy making in order to meet international standards.

As I mentioned in my speech during the February Council session we have to create synergies and closely coordinate our efforts with other international organizations. Clear ‘division of labor’ in assisting Ukraine such as the one we agreed within the V4 helps to avoid duplications … because time is of essence here.

We need more concrete projects … but above all … we need them well-orchestrated. OECD can lend a very useful and resourceful helping hand … another lesson learned from Central Europe’s own transition experience. Further bolstering of Kyiv’s relations with OECD … building on an already very solid history … is a very logical step down the same road.

In this regard, we highly appreciate the work already done by the OECD through its Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN), Support for Improvement in Governance and Management Initiative (SIGMA) and of course the Eurasia Competitiveness Regional Programme in which Slovakia is also engaged and will voluntarily contribute € 20.000 to the OECD ‘Fight Against Corruption in Ukraine’ project.

OECD is a powerful guarantor of well-prepared and properly implemented projects with an impressive track record of success and sustainability.

A combination of OECD’s profound expert capacities and our will as well as visionary thinking to voluntarily contribute and ‘invest’ in such a way into Ukraine’s future is yet another prop to Ukraine’s stability that will enable the country to walk without the limp again and hopefully any time soon.

And one more point. To conduct reforms is a painful and demanding process – and for the politicians advancing it also a tricky business. That is why it needs to be explained to people: that reforms are painful but necessary. That in the short term they hurt, but bear fruit in longer term. The reforms are not done to please some guys abroad. They are done for the benefit of the country and its people. But people need to understand this – and that´s why you need to communicate with them. 

We know from our own experience what a thorough reform process means. And we also know how important it is to be able to rely on friends who are willing to help. And if I look around, there are friends Ukraine can rely on in its current struggle for a better, modern European future.

THANK YOU.

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