Following their meeting at the Ministry of Defense in Kiev, Ukraine, July 12, 1997, Secretary of Defense William Cohen (right) and Ukrainian Defense Minister Olexandr Kuzmuk (left) hold a press conference at the Academy of the Armed Forces. Cohen said that their morning meeting had included discussions of the newly-signed NATO-Ukraine Charter and its importance in promoting the democracy, stability and prosperity of Europe. Improvements to the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program, of which Ukraine is a leading member, were explored, as were the cooperative sharing of information and technology, for example, in the area of military mapping and medicine.