The State Department has made its proposals concerning 2001 budget expenditures in the foreign policy domain. Supporting US interests and those of other countries, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright proposed an appropriation of almost $23 billion, including $179 million that could be granted Ukraine.
Last year, Ms. Albright said that Washington’s aid to other countries (ones considered important on Capitol Hill, of course) should not be reduced, stressing that the United States is a powerful and thriving country but also faces serious threats, such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, international terrorism, drug trafficking, etc. Mrs. Albright insists that, by helping others, the United States is helping itself in its struggle with such evils, and that the one cent per budget dollar being allocated for international projects is obviously not enough.
Thus the US Secretary of State proposes to give Ukraine $22.8 million in the new fiscal year beginning October 1. Washington believes that Ukraine, along with other key democracies in their respective regions (e.g., Colombia, Nigeria, and Indonesia), has found itself in the focus of special US “financial attention.” Ukraine is also mentioned in Ms. Albright’s proposals. Aid to these four key democracies is placed second on the list of Washington’s foreign priorities, after the reconstruction of Kosovo and securing democracy and free market systems in the former Soviet republics.
