The Defense Minister of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak and NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Thrasyvoulos Stamatopoulos have discussed the prospects of further cooperation and reform of the Ukrainian defense sector.
“The parties discussed issues of cooperation with NATO as one of the key elements to ensure the national security of Ukraine and reforming the defense sector of our state. According to the defense minister, Ukraine has essential hopes for the NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting of defense ministers on June 25,” the ministry’s press service reported.
Stamatopoulos said NATO has seen progress in the reform of the defense ministry.
“We see progress in Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense reforms and realize we need to cooperate,” Stamatopoulos said.
Poltorak thanked Stamatopoulos for the support provided by NATO member states.
He said the ongoing situation in eastern Ukraine proves that Russia continues to support separatism and this policy threatens the security of Ukraine and other European countries.
In this context, Poltorak spoke about consolidation of joint efforts aimed at supporting defense sector reforms.
Poltorak said that important achievements had been achieved in reforming the defense ministry, along with volunteer organizations, including the implementation of the Board of Reforms at the ministry.
“The goal of this board is to implement economic, logistic, technical and medical reforms, establish efficient mechanism of involvement of public activists and representatives of international organizations in reforms,” he said.
