Stoltenberg invites Poroshenko to NATO North Atlantic Council meeting
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg invited Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Council of NATO that includes heads of state and government, as well as a high-level meeting of participants and partners of the Assistance Mission peacekeeping effort in Afghanistan.
This was reported by the president’s press service.
Stoltenberg and Poroshenko spoke by telephone on Tuesday and discussed preparations for Ukraine in connection with the NATO summit in July.
They also talked about developments in the Donbas and the release of Ukrainian hostages, which Russia is holding in prisons in its own territory and in the occupied regions.
“Petro Poroshenko informed the Secretary General about developments in the Donbas and stressed the importance of a UN mandate to place a multinational peacekeeping force in the occupied part of the Donbas. The Head of State stressed that Ukraine continues to move in the direction of Euro-Atlantic integration and to make reforms in the security and defense sector in accordance with NATO standards and with the practical assistance of the Alliance,” the report stated.
On March 20, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó announced his intention to block Poroshenko’s participation in the NATO summit because of the Ukrainian law on education, which, according to Hungary, infringes on the rights of national minorities. Poroshenko replied that he was not going to cancel the trip.
On June 22, following a meeting of the Hungarian-Ukrainian intergovernmental working group, Szijjártó said that Hungary will no longer block Ukraine’s participation in the July NATO summit, but will continue to block the political meetings of the Ukraine-NATO Commission.