President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasizes that in the modern world, due to the strengthening of competition between countries and the growth of state "egoism", the role of bilateral agreements increases. This was stated by the Head of State during a speech at the All-Ukrainian Forum "Ukraine 30. International Policy, which continues in Kyiv.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the foundations of new projects and initiatives for Ukraine's strategic partnership with the United States are currently laid. There is an active preparation of the visit of the President of Ukraine to Washington, which should be meaningful, as well as filled and effective.
"We have brought our relations with Great Britain to the level of strategic partnership. We strengthen our partnership and friendship with Turkey. We deepen special cooperation with Canada. We will develop strategic, mutually beneficial relations with many countries: China, Germany, France, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and a number of other states with which we build meaningful, strategic interaction," he said.
The Head of State added that an important partner for Ukraine is India, which is seen as one of the leaders in Asia, and the entire region of Southeast Asia should be in focus of Ukraine. The global partnership with Japan and the strategic partnership with Brazil will be deepened.
"Unfortunately, Africa remains without our sufficient attention. This is one of the key points of further global development. Ukraine should be an active participant in this process," Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
According to him, one of the priorities is to strengthen the economic component of Ukraine's foreign policy.
The President said separately that our state is interested in attracting foreign partners to implement joint projects in the fields of infrastructure, aircraft construction, agriculture, industry and power engineering. It is necessary to work on the localization of production and the involvement of leading technological companies.
"Every visit at the high and highest levels must have a significant, specific trade and economic, investment component for Ukraine," he said.
Another, extremely important direction for Ukrainian diplomats, according to the Head of State, is the development of military-technical cooperation and the search for new markets for products of the Ukrainian military industrial complex.
In addition, the President noted that another key direction is the energy security of the country. Currently, the biggest challenge for Ukraine in this area is the completion and launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
"Its commissioning is not about the economy. This is a weapon against Ukraine and, I’m confident, a weapon against the whole of Europe in the future. This is a direct security trap for everyone. It should be opposed and we should involve all our partners in this complex struggle. All Europe should be united to counteract this energy threat," he believes.
Also, Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew attention to the special significance of the protection of information and digital space from cyber threats, effective counteraction to hybrid and disinformation attacks, because cyber attacks on a critical infrastructure become almost an everyday phenomenon.
"Over the past year, we began to create a system for detecting and combating disinformation at the state level. The next step is to establish such a system of strategic communications and coordination both at the state level and with our allies," he said.
In addition, the President emphasized that Ukrainian citizenship should be prestigious in the world, and a citizen of Ukraine, which is abroad, should feel support and protection of his state.
"The prestige of the Ukrainian passport is confidence in your state when you found yourself in a difficult situation abroad. And here the state apparatus should act quickly, clearly, as a single organism," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The prestige of the Ukrainian passport is also the opportunity to travel freely in the world. According to the Head of State, in April 2019, citizens of Ukraine were able to enter more than 140 countries in a simplified manner, now this figure reached 149.
An important task of the Ukrainian state is to support, developties with Ukrainians living abroad, emphasized the President.
Finally, Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the implementation of all foreign policy priorities requires a clear strategy built on the national interest of Ukraine.
"I expect to approve such a thorough document, namely, the strategy of foreign policy activity of Ukraine, already on the 30th anniversary of our independence", summed up Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
