Ukraine and NATO opened two days of talks on Wednesday with the tricky issue of military reform in the former Soviet state high on the agenda.

Ukrainian officials hope the talks between Foreign Minister B. Tarasyuk and 19 envoys of the NATO will help its integration into European structures. "All the NATO countries certainly want to develop relations with a peaceful, prosperous Ukraine," the Western defence alliance_s Secretary-General G. Robertson told a news briefing after opening the NATO-Ukraine commission talks. Tarasyuk said the NATO envoys were critical of Ukraine_s record on reforming the armed forces, which was likely to involve moving to a professional army from a conscript system. But he also said the tone of the discussions was positive. The talks were the first since Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma_s re-election last November. Boosting ties with NATO is part of his policy, though joining the Western alliance is not on Ukraine_s immediate agenda. Ukrainian peacekeepers form part of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in the troubled Balkan hotspots of Kosovo and Bosnia. Ukraine sent relief teams to both Turkey and Greece last year after devastating earthquakes. Robertson will also meet parliament officials and Prime Minister V. Yushchenko, while the NATO delegates are due to visit the regions of Ukraine and the Black Sea port of Odessa on Thursday.