AJC Attends Ukraine President Poroshenko Inauguration

NEW YORK, June 8, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC welcomed the inauguration of Petro Poroshenko as the new President of Ukraine.

"The successful democratic election on May 25th, and yesterday's swearing in of President Poroshenko, herald a new era for Ukraine," said AJC's Sam Kliger, a specialist on the former Soviet Union, who was invited to attend the inauguration. "The challenges Ukraine still faces are daunting, but the new government, with the essential support of the U.S. and EU, is determined to restore this vital nation to the path of European-style democratic rule and a dynamic economy, free of external military threats and interventions."

"Indeed, President Poroshenko stressed these very themes when he said yesterday that 'European democracy, for me, is the best form of government invented by mankind,' and 'There can be no compromise on the issues of Crimea, European choice and state structure,' in his inaugural address," added Kliger, who joined an audience of dignitaries, including U.S. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Kliger recently relocated from New York to Kiev, where he will spend the next several months as AJC's representative to the 300,000-strong Ukrainian Jewish community, Ukrainian government, foreign diplomats, and civil society.

AJC was the first Jewish organization to call for U.S. recognition of the rebirth of Ukrainian independence in 1991, and to support the protest movement that led to the ouster of the corrupt regime of President Yanukovich. In April, an AJC delegation met with Mr. Poroshenko in Kiev. Last month, AJC hosted Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, via video, at its Global Forum in Washington.

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SOURCE American Jewish Committee