Yanukovych himself stated: “I truly wanted to meet with the leadership of the Ukrainian World Congress, which I consider a leading association of public organizations of the Ukrainian diaspora.”
He added:”I think that now it is urgent to organize cooperation with you and other leaders of the Ukrainian diaspora to promote respectful image of Ukraine in the world. It is very important. I believe it is our common task.”
Whether Yanukovych was being diplomatic, or whether he sincerely feels that way remains to be seen.
It is no secret that the WCU and Yanukovych do not see eye to eye on a number of issues. Nevertheless the diaspora can be very useful to Ukraine’s leaders and not only in promoting a respectful image of Ukraine to the world. There is a very critical role the diaspora has to play in the economic revival of Ukraine.
Last month), a Canada-Ukraine Business Forum was held in Edmonton, the largest metropolitan centre of Ukrainian settlement in Canada. This was organized by the Alberta Chapter of the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce. Among the agreements that came out of this conference was a potential $60 million deal to transport some 20,000 to 30,000 purebred beef cattle to Ukraine over a five-year period for breeding purposes. Another critical element is the development of Ukraine’s oil and gas resources.
During the press conference marking the first 100 days of the Yanukovych administration, First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Kliuyev reported that the government is currently in talks for the acquisition of technology for shale gas extraction. The Interfax-Ukraine report, posted on the Kyiv Post website, did not elaborate as to with whom the government of Ukraine was talking. But as Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, himself a diaspora Ukrainian whose grandfather immigrated to Canada from what is now Lviv Oblast in 1898, told this newspaper, Ivano-Frankivsk Governor Mykhaylo Vyshyvanyuk was especially interested in cooperation in the oil and gas field.
Stelmach pointed out to him that Alberta’s shale gas extraction technology was the best in the world and Alberta was prepared to share it with Ukraine, when he met with him during this forum. The day after his meeting with Stelmach, Vyshyvanyuk was called back to Ukraine “like a tornado” in the words of his executive Assistant Maria Tkachuk.
While opening up the dialogue process with Yanukovych, the UWC, to its credit. did not simply kowtow to the President, but very clearly and explicitly pointed out its concerns in a memorandum it presented.
Among these are: the threat of losing control of Ukraine’s strategically important industries, the Black Sea Fleet agreement which extends the stay of Russia’s military base in Ukraine, the importance of Ukraine joining the European Union and NATO, the introduction of de facto a second official state language in Ukraine, reports of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Ukraine, the Holodomor Famine genocide of 1932 – 1933 in Ukraine, installation of monuments to Stalin in Ukraine, violation of human and minority rights of Ukrainians in Russia, and unfounded accusations against the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist under the leadership of Stepan Bandera in a resolution of the European Parliament.
Yanukovych stated that he will provide an official response to this memorandum and agreed to continue the dialogue.
We look forward to his response.
Marco Levytsky is the editor and publisher of Ukrainian News, a bi-weekly newspaper distributed across Canada.
