During a working visit to the United States, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Stanford University (California) and addressed the expert community of this glorious educational institution.
The Head of State was met by Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University Michael McFaul, freelance professor at Stanford University Steven Pifer, and Director of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law Francis Fukuyama.
The President of Ukraine noted that it was a great honor for him to address the experts of Stanford University, because many famous politicians, businessmen and figures from all over the world spoke here.
"Could I ever imagine that I, an ordinary guy from an ordinary family, from an ordinary - beautiful - industrial city in eastern Ukraine, would deliver a speech here? No. But anything is possible. However, for this purpose it was necessary to become President of Ukraine at least,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
According to him, "everything is possible" is not only his personal credo, but also a symbol of modern Ukraine - a great democratic state, about which he wants to tell more.
"Ukrainians have often proved to humanity that anything is possible. That it is possible to create the first helicopter, an artificial satellite of the Earth, the world's largest aircraft and, by the way, WhatsApp. I once wrote to a friend on WhatsApp that we as a country have not created anything like the first helicopter, an artificial satellite of the Earth and the world's largest aircraft for a long time - about 30 years… We really wanted to change that. It turns out that the only option for this was to become President and bring other, new people to power," the President said, adding that this proves once again that anything is possible.
He said that a few years ago there were terrible roads in Ukraine, which made it impossible to drive quickly from one city to another. There were also complicated and lengthy bureaucratic procedures. And he wanted to change that. And today, Ukraine is building thousands of kilometers of roads and hundreds of bridges, building its own planes, helicopters, tanks and navy again - and it's all possible.
"Ukraine, which opposes one of the most powerful armies in the world - the army of the Russian Federation. A part of the territory of which, larger than some states of America, is annexed and occupied. And in these conditions, Ukraine is building a democratic, free, open state, creating an anti-corruption system of institutions, a unique system of electronic declaration for officials, minimizing the influence of oligarchs on the economy and politics, simplifying business, reforming the banking sector, launching transparent auctions for exploration and extraction of natural resources, introducing effective and transparent corporate governance, launching a transparent land market for the first time since independence, bolstering the rule of law and reforming the judiciary. How is it doing all this? Knowing that anything is possible," the President stressed.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy recalled that he and his team once sat in a small office and generated ideas that no one believed in. Commenting on these ideas, people said what Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs often heard: it's impossible.
"Now I have a creation of Jobs and Apple - iPhone. This is his heart. And it beats. Beats with every vibration during a call or sms. And our Ukrainian creation - a state in a smartphone - is in it. And today 26 million Ukrainians online, in a smartphone can register documents on the birth of a child, use other digital documents, get a building permit, open a business in 7-15 minutes - faster than in most countries. Ukraine has become the first country in the world to have a digital passport," he said.
The Head of State said that the goal for the coming years is 100% of public services online, and in the future - that all citizens of Ukraine have the opportunity to vote in the elections online.
"The American dream is known all over the world. But we lost a lot of time - we do not have time to dream. We have no dreams - we have a Ukrainian goal. And this, of course, is not just digitization. We bring our people back. It is very important for us: to return Crimea, to return Donbas. We will be a strong and successful country - the leader of Europe. Why am I sure of this? Because anything is possible. And I invite all of you to Ukraine to see it for yourself,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy concluded.
