BRUSSELSANDDUBAI–
TwoPoles of UkrainianPolitics
D
r. IgorHuk isanacademicallyedu-
catedperson,professorofVienna
university, vascular surgeon-trans-
plantologist. In2000, hebecamea
memberof theNationalAcademy
of sciencesofUkraine.He isvery
proudof this.Today, cooperationcontinuesvia
theAcademyofScienceswhere transplantology
departmentwasopenandheadedbyprofessor
Nikonenko fromZaporizhya.
–One year agoweopenedUkrainianmedi-
cal office inViennaUniversity, –Professor Igor
Huk tells about his enthusiasticwork ondevelop-
ment of Ukraine–Austria relationships. –This is
the first officeof the kind thatwas open at the
rector’s officeof aGerman-languageuniversity
anddedicated completely toworkwithUkraine.
A year ago, instructors exchange contractwas
signedbetween theViennaUniversity and
Ternopil University (Ukraine). Suchexchangewill
providepractical opportunity to familiarizewith
Bolognaprocess and reach the European level
of training thedoctors inUkraine. In future, we
want same teaching standards for Austrian and
Ukrainianmedical staff.
Additionally, I am theAdvisor to thePresident
of theCommitteeon Economic and Social Issues
of Ukrainewith the EuropeanCommission. This is
mynew function– I was invitedherebyAustrian
politiciansworking inBrussels. Our program’s
agendahas beenplanned for thenext few years.
This February, wehave already conductedour
firstworkshop inKyiv.
–Couldyouplease tellushowcanMD
workasadvisoroneconomic issues?
–Mywork on this committee is concerned,
largely, with social and academic issues.Wehave
peopleworkingoneconomic issues. E.g. at the
lastworkshop,myduties includedparticipation
in all sessions, presentingexplanatory speeches,
providing reference information andgetting
EuropeanCommissionofficials to know the
people I knowpersonally, beginningwith the
first President of Ukraine.
My status in the EuropeanCommission
allowsme to includeUkraineondifferent pro-
grams –on research anddevelopment, social
and cultural issues and financingof different proj-
ects. Thiswork is very important forme, since,
figuratively speaking, I set newpaths toUkraine.
This is needed for bothUkraine and EUbecause
there is adeficit of experienced cadre inUkraine
and EU.We all neededucation and training and
sodo I, sincewe are todevelop anewdirection.
Another domainofmyactivities ismywork
withUkrainian Instituteweestablished inVienna
togetherwithour friends fromUkraineand
Austria. European integration is apriority for our
Institute. Indeed,weare trying togetUkraineback
towhere it historicallybelonged– to thecivilized
UKRAINIANBYORIGIN,
IGORHUK, LIVES IN
VIENNA. HEFIRSTCAMETO
UKRAINE IN1990,WITHTHE
DELEGATIONOFAUSTRIAN
GOVERNMENT INORDER
TOSETUPRELATIONSHIPS
WITHTHECABINETOF
MINISTERSOFUKRAINEATTHE
GOVERNMENT LEVEL. NUMBER
ONE ISSUEATTHETIMEWAS
THEOPENINGOFAUSTRIAN
EMBASSY INUKRAINE.
WITHTHEPOSSIBILITYOF
GETTINGAUSTRIANVISAS,
UKRAINIANSWEREGIVENTHE
OPPORTUNITYTOPARTICIPATE
INAUSTRIANGOVERNMENT
PROGRAMSEXTENDEDTO
UKRAINE. OVERALMOST10
YEARS, AUSTRIAFINANCED
STUDENTANDSCIENTIST
EXCHANGEPROGRAM.
UKRAINEWASTHEONLY
COUNTRYOUTOFALLEX-
SOVIETREPUBLICSTHATWAS
INCLUDEDONTHISPROGRAM.
by
RUSSIAN EMIRATES
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