A declaration to complement the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Ukraine dated July 9, 1997, was signed in Brussels on Friday.
The document was signed by Head of Ukraine's Mission to the Alliance Ihor Sahach and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Foreign Ministry's press service reported on Friday.
The declaration reflects the changes that have taken place in relations between Ukraine and NATO since 1997, when the Charter was signed, in particular in light of the decisions taken in 2008 concerning Ukraine's prospect of ultimately gaining NATO membership and the practical mechanism to approach this goal.
The declaration determined a central role of the Ukraine-NATO Commission in supervising the process of deepening the reforms carried out in Ukraine within the framework of the Annual National Programs.
The first Annual National Program for this year on Ukraine's preparation for the membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was approved by the Ukrainian president on August 7, 2009.
The signing of the document has become the next practical step in implementing the decisions taken at the NATO Council meeting and supported at the following meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission at the ministerial level last December.
