I should like to give my congratulations to the English edition of The Day on its third anniversary. The English edition opens the contents of The Day to a wider international public. Personally I normally read the Ukrainian language edition of your newspaper each day. But I also subscribe to the English edition because it provides a useful round-up of the most important events and articles of the week, including anything I may have missed when travelling out of Kiev, and of course gives a translation of articles we may want to report to London. So in many ways you are providing a real service.
The strengthening of the independence of the media is enormously important for the future development of democracy in Ukraine. I should like to see your newspaper playing a major part in the process by more often opening your columns to different points of view, even those with which you strongly disagree, and by taking care always to report all views fairly. And I should like to see all newspapers, in both Ukraine and Britain, taking care to report the facts of a story first before you start telling us what to think about it.
I offer you my best wishes for a successful future, and look forward to continuing to read and learn from The Day.
