January 20, 2009

VICTOR YUSHCHENKO CONGRATULATES BARACK OBAMA ON
ASSUMING THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Office of the President of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, January 20, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

On the day of your inauguration, it gives me great pleasure to
congratulate you on behalf of the Ukrainian nation and from me
personally on assuming the office of the President of the United
States.

We are greatly impressed by the large scale of objectives set in
your election agenda and by the clarity of vision you have of how to
achieve them. I sincerely wish you every success in your important
state mission. I am looking forward to close and fruitful
cooperation with your administration in the spirit of strategic
partnership and friendship that exists between our nations.

Being fully aware of the complexity of the tasks facing the United
States as the leader in resolving mankind's most acute global
problems, overcoming the world financial crisis and dealing with
security challenges, I would like to assure you that Ukraine is
ready to continue to take an active part in these efforts jointly
with our American friends.

We are proud of the progress made in the relations between Ukraine
and the USA since our country gained independence. As a result, a
firm foundation has been laid in the past 17 years with regard to
Ukraine-American relations. The Ukraine-United States Charter on
strategic partnership signed in 2008 has become an indicator of the
growing positive dynamics of our relations. I am convinced that the
Charter reflects the spirit of friendship and mutual understanding
between Ukraine and the US as well as the key priorities for
cooperation between our countries. It will serve as a reliable
beacon for cooperation between our countries in he future.

Given the abovementioned, I would like to propose to raise the
status of the current basic mechanism for coordinating our
cooperation, the Ukraine-US Interagency Coordinating Group, by
bringing it up to the level of both countries' chief executives.
Such an approach will adequately reflect both the already attained
level of our cooperation and the importance of our mutual tasks.

We highly value the degree of support given by the United States to
our strategic aim of becoming a full-fledged NATO member. We hope
the fruitful cooperation toward this goal will be preserved under
your new presidential administration, notably, in supporting the
political signal we saw at the Bucharest summit about the prospects
for Ukraine to enter the NATO as well as the decision by NATO
foreign ministers at the December meeting on raising cooperation
with Ukraine to a new format towards Ukraine's full-fledged
participation in the alliance.

I was deeply moved by your personal attention to commemorating the
memory of the 1932-1933 Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine. I believe our
future cooperation in this area will help the world realize the true
nature and dimensions of this tragedy of Ukrainians and spread the
words of truth about this gruesome page in Ukrainian history.

I would like to offer to you my invitation to visit Ukraine in a
time most suitable for you. I am sure such a visit will give a new
powerful impetus to the development of the strategic partnership
between Ukraine and the United States.

Victor YUSHCHENKO

NOTE: Unofficial translation by the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council
(USUBC), Washington, D.C., www.usubc.org.
==============================================
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Director
Government Affairs, Washington Office
SigmaBleyzer Private Equity Investment Group
President/CEO, U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC)
Publisher & Editor, Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
1701 K Street, NW, Suite 903, Washington, D.C. 20006
Telephone: 202 437 4707; Fax: 202 223 1224
mwilliams@sigmableyzer.com; mwilliams@usubc.org

www.sigmableyzer.com; www.usubc.org