As prepared for delivery
Remarks by William B. Taylor,
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine,
For the Opening of the
Biological Threat Reduction Overarching Integrated Product Team Meeting
September 12, 2006
Good morning and thank you all for coming to this opening session.
I'm very pleased to be able to be here to help you start off on this important session because we have an opportunity to really make some progress. The United States and Ukraine have a long history of this kind of work, cooperating against the most dangerous threats that we face today. No one will ever forget the responsible position that Ukraine took on the nuclear weapons issue early on in its inception. Ukraine and the United States are demonstrating again today their joint commitment to making the world safer and freer of these kinds of threats. This is a symbolic time to do this, on September 12. Yesterday we remembered the events of five years ago. It adds to the urgency of the work that you do here today.
Being in the government, I wasn't familiar with the term Integrated Product Team, but as it's explained to me, I think it makes good sense for what you all will be doing here today. You will be working on a cooperative process, coming up with a product that is useful to all people involved, and you will be discussing the accomplishments to date and the plan for the next several months. There are some decisions and directions that you all will want to take over the next day that will guide you for the next several months.
Last year, the Avian Flu, and before that SARS, reminded us of the importance of the biological work we do, and that reminded us of what could happen if terrorists were successful in spreading such a disease. In response to Ukraine's request last winter, the United States government provided bio-safety and diagnostic equipment to help combat Avian Influenza.
This year, we must make concrete decisions to enhance the security of dangerous pathogens, increase our understanding of disease and improve our abilities to detect, diagnose and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. I am hopeful that we will use this opportunity here today, in this meeting, to move forward and come to some common understanding of achievable milestones over the course of the next several months. Thank you very much for coming here today. I will turn it back over to the organizers, and I look forward to hearing the success of your work. Thank you.