Kateryna Yushchenko's speech at NGO Luncheon, Washington DC, USA

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Guests,

I am honored to be with you today and I would like to thank you all for coming. My dear friends Melanne Verveer and Janet Howard arranged this lunch together and I am very grateful for their efforts.

I bring you greetings from a new Ukraine. The Orange Revolution, now known throughout the world, changed not only the history of my country, but the history of mankind as well. Ukrainians proved once again that democracy will always succeed.

When the people of Ukraine came to the streets in November, they were not only protesting the brazen election fraud that stole their choice for president. They were demanding a new form of society, a new future for themselves and their children

The new Ukrainian leadership deeply understands what a challenge lies ahead. They must reform the economy, administrative structures, governmental institutions. They must eliminate corruption and create millions of new jobs at decent wages. Business must become transparent and fair. They are reducing taxes, but will make sure that everyone pays them.

They must work to establish a civil society based on tolerance to all religious beliefs, nationalities and languages.

I would like to stress that among other issues my strong commitment lies in the area of social and cultural transformations. Our country has a long-standing history that we can be proud of. Ukrainians are hard working decent people who respect family values and keep faith in their hearts. And yet today Ukraine is among the most affected countries in the world with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, drug abuse, alcoholism. Orphans and homeless children continue a sad reality of Ukraine. The medical system is outdated. I am deeply convinced that all these problems can be and will be solved. And that is exactly where I hope your respective organizations and foundations can help.

I am thrilled that so many of your are here today, that you are interested in Ukraine and wish to become involved in helping solve our difficult economic and cultural problems. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done.

With your cooperation we can bring Ukrainian history and traditions back to our country – through cultural and humanitarian projects. Help us to build a state of the art hospital, treat cancer, stop the spread of HIV, integrate the disabled into society, end the exploitation of women and children. Help us to create and sustain NGOs that address these and other issues.

President Yushchenko raised tenfold governmental assistance for children birth, his Government has adopted the most social-oriented budget in the past decade. They will be spending every hryvnia in the nation’s interests and would like to see other countries and our large Ukrainian diaspora involved.

We need your experience in helping us with strategies on how to deal with these issues. We need your help in identifying potential partners. We need your resources and advice and training.

What we can promise is that the President and his government will be receptive to your proposals. That they will do all they can to facilitate your projects.

I invite you all to Kyiv, let us work together. A prosperous and stable Ukraine is definitely in the interest of the United States and we will be building our new agenda of strategic partnership at all levels – government to government, city-to-city, people-to-people, heart-to-heart.

Thank you again for coming.