Interviews of 16 candidates for posts of Ukraine's ambassadors finished - FM Kuleba
MOSCOW. Aug 17 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday finished interviewing 16 candidates for ambassadorial positions, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said.
"The selection process began in March of this year. We received and processed an enormous number of applications - a total of 1,104. Thirty percent of them were submitted by representatives of business circles, 12% by academics and teachers, 7% by veterans, military personnel, the security and defense sector, 7% by current and former diplomats. Applications were also received from lawyers, human rights activists, civil society, journalists, representatives of local administrations, public servants, etc.," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Kuleba as saying on social media.
The open selection process involves a thorough evaluation of each candidate, making the path from accepting the applications to the compilation of the short-list quite lengthy, he said.
"That is why, out of over a thousand applications we have chosen 16. But they are truly qualified, motivated and very strong candidates. Subsequently, I will inform the president about the results of the open selection process," the minister said.
Kuleba also said that he cannot provide details about the specific candidates until they pass the other stages of the selection process.
"But I can assure you already now that they are the best of the best, because the contest was actually 69 people per position. They are very different people, but all of them have achieved successes in their fields and have the ambition and ability to be useful for Ukraine," Kuleba said.
Ukrainian diplomats face very difficult and large-scale tasks, and Ukraine's diplomatic service needs to be strengthened and expanded, particularly in Africa and Asia, the minister said.
"We also require more professional candidates who know how to attract investments and bolster exports. All this will be done both by career diplomats and specialists found outside the diplomatic system. Let's move on," he said.