Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said that "national pragmatism" will dominate Ukraine's multi-vector foreign policy. Delivering his annual state-of-the-nation address in Parliament on April 7, he stressed that the country's non-bloc status is a basic component of this approach. Yanukovych said that under his leadership Ukraine will continue cooperation with various military blocs, including NATO, and will seek to step up contacts not only with its strategic partners, Russia and the USA, but also with Turkey and China. Yanukovych expressed the hope that Ukraine would sign an associate membership agreement with the EU this year and suggested that Ukraine should develop its relations with the Russia-led Customs Union in a "three-plus-one" format. Yanukovych did not mention Parliament in the address.

President Yanukovych's state-of-the nation address on April 7 is meant as an address to the whole nation, not just to Parliament, and therefore does not provide for a question-and-answer session afterwards, the head of the presidential administration head, Serhiy Lyovochkin, has said. The presidential address is based on a 415-page expert report by the National Institute of Strategic Studies entitled "Modernization is our strategic choice". The report was to be handed out to MPs prior to the address. The following is an excerpt from President Yanukovych's 37-minute-long address to Parliament broadcast by the Ukrainian Parliament's Rada TV channel on April 7:

Esteemed fellow citizens, esteemed MPs!

Before delivering this address, I would like to congratulate you on the occasion of today's holiday, the Annunciation....

Esteemed colleagues, the future of Ukraine as a prosperous European state depends, first and foremost, on all of us. This is why reforms in the security and defence sector are of special importance.

We must admit that over the past 20 years of Ukrainian independence adequate attention has not been paid to this decisive component of Ukraine's statehood. For a long time, Ukraine used the security resources it inherited after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. These resources are now almost exhausted.

Today, Ukraine's security and defence sector is critically weak. We have been correcting this. In 2010, we took radical decisions on the development of the country's military-industrial complex. A new scheme for managing it has been introduced.

In 2010, we also drafted a new national security strategy for Ukraine. We have worked out a qualitatively new military doctrine which takes into account changes in the military and political situation and proceeds from our country's non-bloc policy.

We are still working on a new blueprint for reforms in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which will offer a new model of Ukraine's armed forces. In this context, I would like to stress once again: non-bloc policy is the key basis of Ukrainian foreign policy and security doctrine. Ukraine views its non-bloc status as a consistent position aimed at defending its national interests without participation in military unions, which creates the necessary opportunities for developing partner and mutually-beneficial relations with a whole range of other countries and international organizations.

We are proceeding from the point that the majority of modern challenges and threats are of a global nature. Overcoming them calls for joint efforts by countries of the world and joint approaches to ensuring regional and global security. Ukraine is ready for such cooperation. Today, our main priority is to support the course towards global nuclear disarmament, active participation in the development of an all-European security system and the search for ways to ensure complete demilitarization of the European continent.

Ukraine will be consistent in supporting the idea of forming a nuclear-free zone in Central and Eastern European regions.

To reach this goal, our country is open to dialogue and cooperation with all countries, partners and international security organizations. In particular, Ukraine will continue cooperation with NATO, implement joint project with member countries of the OSCE, CSTO, and other regional security organizations. Ukraine has always been and will be a contributor to global peace and stability. Ukraine will continue to take an active part in UN peacekeeping activities.

For almost a year, Ukraine has been implementing a qualitatively new foreign policy course based on the concept of national pragmatism. The non-bloc dimension, ideologically neutral policy of partnership in relations with Russia and CIS countries, the European Union, the USA, Turkey, China and ASEAN countries, and other states and regional organizations have become its basic components. Having rejected ideological cliches in foreign policy, Ukraine has managed to significantly expand its circle of partners and develop new vectors of diplomatic activities. We have started establishing contacts with Central Asian and Southeast Asian countries, Latin America. We have seen a breakthrough in relations with China.

Ukraine's European integration strategy is the fundamental component of the concept of national pragmatism. Now Ukraine is engaged in an active negotiations process on association agreement. The signing of this agreement will create conditions for fully fledged integration of Ukraine in Europe's economic, social, cultural and legal space. This year, we are seeking to resolve contradictions through compromise and finally sign an agreement on association and free trade.

In 2010, Ukraine and the EU took a significant step in the area of visa-free dialogue. During the Ukraine-EU summit, Ukraine got an action plan for the implementation of a more liberal visa regime. To advance further towards a visa-free regime with the EU, in 2011 we must carry out a number of technical tasks, including the sectors of ID document security, migration and ensuring public order.

I am positive that we will have done this by the end of the year.

I want to stress that our course towards European integration will not hinder the development of strategic partnership with Russia. For Ukraine, the mending of relations with Russia has become an inseparable component of its European choice.

In 2010, we implemented an important portion of the bilateral agenda, resumed fully fledged dialogue, economic cooperation and worked out a new formula for strategic partnership between Ukraine and Russia. The signing in the near future of a declaration on the content of Ukrainian-Russian strategic partnership will become still further proof of our serious intentions and a logical result of our joint work.

However, it is our position of principle that bilateral relations should be based on mutual respect of national interests. Precisely based on this, we are considering our cooperation with the Customs Union. I believe that the further development of relations with the Customs Union will be based on new free trade agreements and a possible package agreement on cooperation in the three-plus-one format. This will give us a chance to ensure a real course towards a real pulling together European and Euarasian economic spaces.

We will continue to develop strategic partner relations with the USA based on the charter of 2008. We are paying special attention to the importance of political dialog in the security sector, cooperation in countering international terrorism, and the resolution of regional conflicts. Ukraine will remain a reliable partner of the USA in ensuring strategic stability and security. This is our unchanged stance....