NATO membership will benefit Ukraine, parliamentary speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with a commercial TV channel broadcast on February 10, Yatsenyuk said: "I believe Ukraine's membership in the alliance will bring a plus. However, this will not happen either tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or in five, or in 10 years. This is a path to reforms."

When asked to comment on how Ukraine's entry into NATO could affect its relations with Russia, Yatsenyuk recalled one of his conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who he described as his friend: "I told him frankly: ‘Sergey, explain to me in a very simple way what threat NATO poses to Russia. If you explain it, I guarantee that I will be the first opponent of NATO'."
He said Lavrov had not yet given an explanation.
Yatsenyuk, who recently signed a joint letter with a request to admit Ukraine to the NATO Membership Action Plan, also recalled that the opposition Party of Regions, which is now blocking the work of Parliament, is demanding that he withdraw his signature from the letter, voted in favour of full-fledged NATO membership when it had a majority.

In the interview Yatsenyuk also said that membership of the WTO will not cause great damage to the country’s economy. Speaking on what this membership means to the country, Yatsenyuk said: "the WTO is not a panacea for all economic problems but a chance for Ukraine and its economy to reach new markets and improve competitiveness." "Paradoxically, but over the past three years Ukraine has been 90% in line with the WTO's terms and regulations," he said, adding that "in fact, the Ukrainian economy has been working in line with WTO terms".

Yatsenyuk described the WTO as "a ground for an intelligent trade war" and regretted Ukraine’s lack of experts and industrial associations experienced in negotiating and protecting the country's commercial interests abroad.

He said he was confident Parliament would ratify Ukraine's joining the WTO by July 2008.

When asked about the ongoing political standoff in Parliament, whose work has been impeded for several weeks now, Yatsenyuk said that a new snap election, if called, would not bring stability or settle the existing problems. He added he would not describe what is happening in Parliament as a crisis but "a way in which the authorities and opposition are trying to find some common ground". "Parliament will work in its normal mode when certain political forces understand that their desire to return to power is hardly likely to be attained," he added.