Oleksandr Lytvynenko: NATO standards are the best standards of the military sphere, and we are guided exactly by them for realization of internal reforms in Ukraine

Annual national program on Ukraine-NATO cooperation (ANP) is a tool to prepare Ukraine for membership in the Alliance and for realization of our strategic documents on security and defense sector development. This was stated by Deputy to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Lytvynenko during a joint meeting of parliamentary committees on foreign affairs and on issues of European integration with the participation of permanent Parliament delegation to NATO Parliamentary Assembly on comprehensive NATO-Ukraine cooperation.

"When talking about joining NATO, it often refers only to the accession of our Armed Forces. But crucially important to realize that it is the state, which joins the Alliance", - Mr. Lytvynenko said, explaining that in the ANP the military section is only one of the five, besides political, economic, information and security ones.

At the same time Mr. Lytvynenko stressed that implementation of NATO standards "is a road map for development of our structures, insofar as standards of the Alliance are the best standards of the military sphere, and we take exactly them for realization of internal reforms".

In this context, Deputy to NSDC Secretary noted that achieving of interoperability, of possibility to carry out joint operations by the forces and means of Ukraine and NATO member states is the key task under the National Security Strategy.

Answering the question about the strategic documents, by which state agencies, that realize the policy in security and defense sphere, are guided Mr. Lytvynenko stated, that existing laws on the basic outlines of domestic and foreign policy, on fundamentals of National Security, on organization of the Defense Planning "need updating, and the work on them is going on now".

"The main strategic planning document is the National Security Strategy of Ukraine adopted in May 2015. In the area of defense the Military Doctrine is of the main importance and in its current form we are trying to get as close as possible to the standards of NATO member states. In most of these states that document is entitled "Military Security Strategy". That's why, despite the title "Military Doctrine", the document, that was adopted in September 2015, by the content is a Military Security Strategy", - he explained.

Mr. Lytvynenko added that on the basis of Military Security Strategy the State Program on Armed Forces Development and the State Program on Armament Development are being worked out.

A joint meeting of parliamentary committees on foreign affairs and on issues of European integration with the participation of permanent Parliament delegation to NATO Parliamentary Assembly on comprehensive NATO-Ukraine cooperation was attended by people's deputies of Ukraine, representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Security Service of Ukraine, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NATO Liaison Office in Ukraine and foreign embassies to Ukraine.