Ambassador William Taylor's Last Podcsast from Kyiv

Dobro dnya.

Welcome back to this, my last podcast. The next time you tune into a podcast on our website, you will see my successor. But even before that, the Obama adminstration has sent a senior advisor out to Kyiv to send a message to the people of Ukraine. A message from the new administration from President Obama. Jim Steinberg who is Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's deputy, first deputy, came to Kyiv to talk to the President, talk to the Prime Minister, talk to the people of Ukraine, talk to normal Ukrainians, and he wanted to deliver a message of support. He wanted to reaffirm the support of the United States for a free, independent, sovereign nation of Ukraine. Our support for Ukraine's democracy and independence stays firm. And this is the message that Mr. Steinberg brought to all the people that he talked to in Kyiv last month.

Let me make a couple of predictions as I leave. First of all, on the economy. The economy is in difficult straits right now. We know it is. But my prediction is sometime this year, things will begin to turn around. Things will begin to grow again. There are some signs of stabilization already, and this will be good for all Ukrainians when this begins to happen. There's work to be done. The banking system is still fragile. The banking system needs to be restregthened and reaffirmed. It needs to be probably pared down. There are probably some banks that won't make it through this crisis.

There'll be other difficult decisions to be made on the budget side. The budget deficit is still large. The IMF, the International Monetary Fund, has provided a big loan, $16 billion, for Ukraine. The first part of that loan, the first part of that money, is already here in Ukraine. But in order to keep that loan coming, there are other hard decisions that are going to have to be made.

On the political side, I think there is also a positive outlook. I'm sure that this presidential election coming up will be an important one for Ukraine. One of the main reasons that I am so confident that politically things will get better is that there's a new generation of Ukrainians that will take part in this presidential election for the first time. These Ukrainians are eighteen years old. They didn't vote in previous elections. Eighteen-year-olds have only know an independent Ukraine. Eighteen-year-olds didn't know anytime in the Soviet Union. This generation is destined to be an important generation for Ukraine, and I am very confident that his election coming up will be an important one to bring clarity to the political situation in Ukraine. I have said many times that Ukraine is strong when it's united, it's weak when it's divided, and this election is an opportunity to strengthen Ukraine.

So, as my wife Deb and I prepare to leave Ukraine on this time, and go back to Washington, go back to see the rest of our family, we want to thank the people of Ukraine for welcoming us into their homes, into their restaurants, into their villages, into their great country. We are very pleased that we've been able to be here with you for the past three years. So pleased that we are looking forward to coming back. So I will be back. Thank you very much.