Question
What do you think are the prospects for Ukraine?
Prime Minister
You are a country with enormous potential, the Ukraine in particular, very large resources, great amounts of raw materials, a marvellous agriculture and so there is a terrific potential for greater prosperity and we hope to be able to help.
Question
This is your first visit to Ukraine, what are your first impressions, what did you know about Ukraine before, about its culture, its economic and political life, does it coincide with what you have already seen?
Prime Minister
We all know Ukraine's ancient history, it is part of Europe's ancient history and of course we, too, have an ancient history and we are always fascinated by people's roots and I think most young people want to know their roots. And so Ukraine has this tremendous history stretching long into the distant past. It has its beautiful [end p1] buildings, its monasteries, Christianity first took root here.
A country that has a great past and is interested in its past often has a great future because it feels that it has something to live up to and really a bounden duty to add to that history of the past for the future of its children.
Question
The exhibition in Britain which now shows in Kiev shows that people of Ukraine feel a great interest in Britain and British people and we are very grateful for your aid to the people after the Chernobyl disaster. What can you say about the prospects of the contacts between our Republic and Great Britain?
Prime Minister
We have been delighted at the number of people who have come to the exhibition, the great exhibition that we have, and the amount of interest, they are showing. I think there are very good prospects for cooperation between some of your industries and ours. We, for example, are extremely good at food processing and also at food distribution. It seems that you have the beautiful produce but we can help you in processing and distributing it. There are a number of other things on engineering and particularly about pharmaceuticals.
On the second part of your question, of course we did everything we could to help after Chernobyl and other disasters. Those happenings are terrible, the whole world learned from them, the whole world feels involved. At those very tragic times, all the barriers go down between mankind and we come as one to help those [end p2] who suffer. That serves to remind us that there really are no human barriers save those we artificially build for ourselves and those we must break down.
Question
During these days with our new democratically elected Parliament, you are a very experienced politician, what would you recommend to our politicians?
Prime Minister
Democratic parliaments are very lively in debate, as I know full well. I answer questions in our Parliament twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday. The debate is quick and very lively and the clash of opinion comes up and other people enjoy watching it. I hope yours will be a little bit quieter for a time.