On 22 July, ANTS held a founding meeting in Kyiv, at which it presented a platform for strategic dialogue that will bring together representatives of State institutions, the parliament, the security and defence sector, think tanks, civil society, veterans, and young people.
The Advisory Network has been established to provide for regular expert dialogue on Ukraine's cooperation with NATO. Its members will work in thematic working groups, share experience, prepare recommendations on matters of security, defence reform, State resilience, innovation, and the development of defence technologies, and present these to international partners.
During the presentation, founder of the ANTS Network, Hanna Hopko, stated:
"We must speak with NATO in a new way. We need a platform where the most difficult questions can be discussed openly, where a shared vision of the priorities of Ukraine's cooperation with NATO can be formed, where positions and ideas can be exchanged among all those working on security and defence issues, and where expert work can be translated into agreed recommendations."
Director of the Hennadii Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine at the MFA, Ihor Ostash, emphasised that Ukraine's relations with NATO are today of a different character:
"Only a few years ago we spoke about Ukraine and NATO from the position of supplicants. Today the situation has changed. Ukraine is an important partner of the Alliance. I wish to thank Hanna Hopko and the team of the ANTS Network for the work they are doing to develop Ukraine's cooperation with NATO and to advance our progress towards membership. I am convinced that this initiative will yield substantial results."
It is important for Ukraine that the expert community speak with a professional and coordinated voice on matters of Euro-Atlantic integration. It is for this purpose that the Advisory Network has been created.
We thank all participants for a substantive discussion and for their readiness to join in this shared work.
The event was held within the framework of the project "Ukraine–NATO: Civil Society Advisory Network", implemented with the financial support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The views and opinions expressed within the framework of the project are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NATO.