Board of YES will discuss Ukraine’s European integration prospects in Warsaw

At the initiative of the Head of the Board of Yalta European Strategy (YES) and President of Poland (1995-2005) Aleksander Kwasniewski and founder of YES Victor Pinchuk, the members of the Board of YES are to visit Warsaw on Wednesday, 10 November 2010. During the visit designed to reinforce Polish support for the European course of Ukraine, the Board will hold a number of meetings and a roundtable joined by leading Polish politicians and experts.

On the brink of the YES Board visit to Warsaw President Aleksander Kwasniewski said: “The visit of the YES-Board in Warsaw happens in the framework of the up-coming EU – Presidency of Poland (second half of 2011). The Board will meet leading Polish political figures preparing the Presidency Agenda, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski and EU Minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz. We will also meet Chairman of the Central Bank Marek Belka.”

“Throughout the day we will discuss priorities of Poland’s EU Presidency and the Eastern Partnership on Ukraine. The visit will help our Polish counterparts to get a closer look on the latest changes in Ukraine. We want to familiarize Polish officials with Ukraine’s latest achievements in the political and economic field, confer on the financial and administrative challenges and reforms. This makes great sense since it will help Poland during its Presidency to better promote the vision of Ukraine in the European Union”, - he added.

The Board of the Yalta European Strategy will be represented by Aleksander Kwasniewski, Victor Pinchuk, Member of the European Parliament Marek Siwiec; Member of the European Parliament and Vice President of the European People’s Party Mario David; Program Director of German Council on Foreign Relations Alexander Rahr and former president of Rothschild Conseil International Jean-Pierre Saltiel.

Background:

Yalta European Strategy (YES) is an international network to promote a just, democratic and prosperous Ukraine, to help Ukraine’s transformation and to support its eventual EU accession. In order to achieve this goal, YES brings together leaders from politics, business and society to debate global challenges and Ukraine’s place in the world and develop policy recommendations. YES uses its position as a top level debate platform to promote Ukraine’s EU membership perspective in Ukraine and in the EU.

Its Annual Meeting in Yalta has become the main high-level forum in Ukraine to debate global challenges and Ukraine’s place in the world. Among the speakers at the Yalta Annual Meeting have been Kofi Annan Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Joschka Fischer, Stefan Fule, Bronislaw Komorowski, Leonid Kuchma, Shimon Peres, Gerhard Schroder, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, James Wolfensohn, and Viktor Yanukovych. YES came about in July 2004 in Yalta, when Victor Pinchuk invited some 30 European leaders to debate the future of Ukraine and the EU. During the conference, participants proposed to join forces and to create a collective initiative.

Official website: www.yes-ukraine.org

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