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UKRAINE-NATO TARGET PLAN FOR 2003 REVEALED. The official website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry (http://www.mfa.gov.ua/) on 24 March published the Ukraine-NATO Target Plan for 2003. The document, which follows the Ukraine-NATO Action Plan adopted at the November 2002 NATO summit in Prague and published in January 2003 (see "RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report," 28 January 2003), maps out specific measures pertaining to political, economic, military, human rights, and other areas to be taken by Ukraine in 2003 in its pursuit of NATO membership. JM

UKRAINE URGES BELARUS TO RATIFY BORDER TREATY. Alyaksandr Vaytovich, head of the Council of Republic of Belarus's National Assembly, visited Kyiv on 24 March and met with President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, Ukrainian media reported. Vaytovich and Lytvyn reportedly spoke in favor of the ratification by Minsk of a Belarusian-Ukrainian border treaty. Kyiv ratified this treaty in 1997, while Minsk has made ratification dependent on the repayment of Ukrainian debts to Belarus. Belarus believes Ukraine should pay it more than $100 million, while Ukraine admits to owing no more than $50 million. Lytvyn told his Belarusian guest that the border-treaty ratification should be separated from economic issues in Ukrainian-Belarusian relations, UNIAN reported. JM