The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Ukraine, hereinafter referred to as NATO and Ukraine,

• reaffirming their commitment to the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership between the NATO and Ukraine as signed in Madrid on 9 July 1997 and the principles laid out in it;
• reiterating that the mutually beneficial relationship between NATO and Ukraine over the past twelve years in the Distinctive Partnership has contributed, and will continue to contribute, to regional and Euro-Atlantic security;
• reaffirming the importance and utility of existing tools for NATO-Ukraine cooperation;
• reaffirming all elements of the decisions regarding Ukraine taken by the Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Bucharest on 3 April 2008 and welcomed by Ukraine at the following meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC) at the level of the Heads of State and Government;
• recalling the decisions taken at the meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of Foreign Ministers held at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 3 December 2008 and welcomed by Ukraine at the following meeting of the NUC at Ministerial level;

complement the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership, in order to give the NATO-Ukraine Commission a central role to play in:

• supervising the process set in hand at the NATO Bucharest Summit;
• deepening regular political dialogue and cooperation between NATO and Ukraine at all appropriate levels;
• underpinning Ukraine's efforts to take forward its political, economic, and defence-related reforms pertaining to its Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO, with a focus on key democratic and institutional goals.

In addition to the regular consultative and cooperative meetings set out in the Charter, the NUC will be convened following a request from Ukraine if Ukraine perceives a direct threat to its territorial integrity, political independence, or security, in line with paragraph 8 of the Partnership for Peace Framework Document.

In order to help advance Ukraine's reforms and consistent with all the elements of the decisions taken at the Allied Foreign Ministers' meeting in December 2008, Annual National Programmes will be developed by Ukraine under the NATO-Ukraine Commission,

The present Declaration takes effect upon its signature.

The present Declaration is established in two originals in the English, French and Ukrainian languages, all three texts having equal validity.

Signed in Brussels on 21 August 2009.