0096 CONF IBEHT IJ l l THE WHITE HOUSE I WASHINGTON i SUBJECT Meeting with Ukrainian Supreme Soviet Chairman Leonid Kravchuk U PARTICIPANTS The President James A Baker III Secretary of State John H Sununu Chief of Staff Brent Scowcroft Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Robert Zoellick Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and Counselor Ed A Hewett Senior Director for Soviet Affairs NSC Staff Jon Gundersen Consul General Kiev Curtis Kamman Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs Nicholas Burns Director for European and Soviet Affairs NSC Staff Notetaker Interpreter Leonid Kravchuk Chairman Evgeniy Fokin Prime Minister Anatoliy Zlenko Foreign Minister Gennadiy Yaneev Vice President of the USSR Viktor Kornplektov USSR Ambassador to the U S DATE TIME AND PLACE August 1 1991 1 45 - 2 15pm Marinskiy Palace Kiev The President I was very moved by the welcome of all those people along the route as was every other American with me corning into Kiev today U Chairman Kravchuk Mr President welcome to Kiev welcome to Marinskiy Palace First I want to say to everyone here that I am very satisfied by my talks with the President in the car and in our meeting I was also satisfied by your comments on many issues I hope you and your party have felt that the Ukrainian people deeply respect the American people and your policies by this welcome I also hope Mr President that you will understand the aspirations of Ukraine for cooperation in different fields We believe friendship and cooperation are very important for us I would like the forthcoming UN General Assembly to take into account the political forces in our country and to treat them with respect We are following resolutely state sovereignty We want to enrich the existing union and want 'CONr7 IDE1 1TI AI Declassify on OADR DECLASSIFIED PER E O 12Q58 AS t- 9E • From the Nunn-Lugar collection of the National Security Archive MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION COHFIJ ' NTJAT • to become part of the uni'on community the European and the international communities As a UN member Ukraine is willing to participate in UN General Assembly meetings and discuss our wider participation in this and other international organizations f61'- The President First I want to say how pleased we are to be here in Ukraine and are sorry that time is so short I am moved by the warmth of the reception you and your people gave us on the streets The dramatic results of perestroika and glasnost have produced a new opening for the U S and Ukraine I have had a chance to explain to Chairman Kravchuk that we'll deal officially with the center I told him of my deep respect for President Gorbachev But as the Union treaty is worked out I understand it•will allow more direct dealings with the republics In the meantime we can go forward with economic issues with nuclear safety- There are a lot of areas where the U S can be helpful ' On our Consulate I am delighted it is here A reciprocal opening would have to depend on the details of the Union treaty I hope you will agree with that I know we are short of time but there is a delicate balance here and I want to deal respectfully with the center And yet we have a couple of hunqred years of tradition with the U S and other countries dealing in many ways There may be some standard thing but Ukraine has a tremendous following in the states where there are well over one million Ukraine-Americans This allows us to start off with a lot going for us on both sides So I think I will leave it there for now but I would be glad to respond to questions you or your associates may have Prime Minister Fokin It is a great privilege for me to consider myself as your personal friend after this meeting I will not repeat what Chairman Kravchuk has said I followed your airport speech with great attention I am satisfied by the fact that the propositions I will make will respond to your ideas on cooperation with the U S I would like to suggest First I think Ukraine should be given Most Favored Nation status and based on this I suggest that relations between Ukraine and the U S should be expanded __ _ Second concerning U S investments they will be guaranteed here by the National Bank and the ministries They can be made in new projects or in reconstruction What I would like to st ess is that these are not loans but investments of any possible scope up tONFIBENTIAI -CONFIDENT IAh- From the Nunn-Lugar collection of the National Security Archive We have great economic problems in Ukraine I would also like to say that the establishment of your Consulate here will contribute to relations with our countries I would be- satisfied if the U S would permit us to open a Consulate in the U S As I said to the President in the car today I also want to thank you for your assistance for Chernobyl and hope it will continue I think the donors conference on Chernobyl will give a new emphasis to Chernobyl problems The nuclear agency in Vienna gave a report a rather modest assessment of the problem The conference will help with an objective view of this problem CONE Il3ENTIAi to $5 billion For this purpose we should set up a joint commercial bank based on shares Third the American side should participate in the privatization of industries here in coal mining mechanical engineering and light industry After the reconstruction of industries we could use them to renew our economy U S firms will be given the possibility- to trade freely here Fourth we can guarantee investments of rubles in joint ventures primarily to produce consumer goods The President Well we will have to take a look at these ideas Of course we are already doing MFN which covers all of the USSR so you will benefit from that We will look at all five areas but it doesn't sound like we can't do any of these Trade is no problem And the new projects we're for them Small business is a big part of U s employment and we could help you with that Let me get back to 1you with a more specific response tG l - End of Conversation - __ _ tONFIBENTIAJ 1 From the Nunn-Lugar collection of the National Security Archive Fifth we would like to establish a Ukrainian-U S association which would open shops and stores here in Ukraine and in those parts of the U S with'heavy concentrations of UkrainianAmericans' · Fokin handed a list of ideas to the President