Twenty years ago the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, which led to Ukraine's re-emergence among the sovereign nations of the world. The Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine proclaimed the right of the Ukrainian nation to sovereignty, independence, integrity and indivisibility of the Ukraine's authority within its boundaries and its independence and equality in foreign relations.

The Declaration of July 16, 1990 announced that Ukraine is a sovereign nation-state and affirmed its boundaries its inalienable right to self-determination, and that its citizens were comprised of all nationalities of the people of Ukraine who were the only source of state power. The Declaration proclaimed that the people of Ukraine have the exclusive right to possess, use and manage the national wealth of Ukraine, and all nationalities living on its territory are entitled to free national and cultural development.

The Declaration was the first step towards the revival of Ukrainian statehood, the fall of the Soviet Union and was the turning point in initiating the development of a sovereign, independent state whose independence was declared a year later on August 24, 1991.

The Declaration laid the basic principles and priorities of Ukraine's foreign policy including equal participation in international affairs, the active promotion of universal peace and international security as well as the direct participation in the European process and European structures.