President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko had a meeting with Foreign Ministers of the Netherlands Frans Timmermans and Foreign Minister of Australia Julie Bishop. At the meeting, the parties signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the investigation into circumstances of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash that took place in the Ukrainian skies on July 17.
Under the Memorandum, taking into account the fact that the majority of victims of the disaster are Dutch citizens, Ukraine, as country where the tragedy happened, delegates the authority to the Netherlands to investigate the case. It is secured by the Agreement between the National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine and the respective agency of the Netherlands.
The Netherlands shall coordinate the investigation of all circumstances of the tragedy and shall be responsible for its holding under Annex 13, part 5 of the Chicago Convention. The Netherlands shall ensure the participation of other parties concerned, particularly Ukraine, as country where the event took place, Malaysia, as country-owner of the aircraft, the United States, as country-manufacturer of the aircraft and the ICAO.
President Petro Poroshenko noted that the Ukrainian party had fulfilled all its obligations and delegated the authority to hold international investigation to the Netherlands. “It is our special humanitarian gesture and we are confident that our common cooperation will allow finding the perpetrators and bringing them to strict liability,” the President said.
“Countries whose citizens died in this terrible tragedy are scattered around the world. That’s why we must be united to ensure coordination of actions in holding the efficient investigation and submitting its results to the world,” the Head of State emphasized.
The President stated: “Today we are standing in solidarity with the entire world and fighting evil to establish justice”.
Petro Poroshenko expressed gratitude to the Netherlands and Australia “with whom we are increasingly efficiently coordinating our actions and elaborating concrete mechanisms to ensure transparent and independent international investigation”.
The President noted that it was planned to sign joint Agreement with the Australian Government in respect of the participation of Australia in the Mission of protecting the international investigation.
Foreign Ministers of the Netherlands Frans Timmermans emphasized after the signature: “We will establish justice. After everything we’ve lived through, Ukrainians are a fraternal nation for us”.
In her turn, Foreign Minister of Australia Julie Bishop noted that Australia had condemned the actions of Russia when it had violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. “Our country demanded respect to the international rules and decent behavior of the countries. 7 days ago we couldn’t even imagine how involved we will be in the given situation,” she stressed.
In the presence of the Ukrainian President, the Memorandum was signed by Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and the Netherlands Pavlo Klimkin and Frans Timmermans. The ceremony was also attended by Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Valeriy Chaly, Commissioner of the Prime Minister of Australia Allan Grant Houston, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Ukraine Kees Klompenhouwer.