Accompanied by First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko, President Victor Yushchenko on Saturday attended the 4th International Boyko Festival in the village of Yavora in the Lviv region, according to the President`s press-office.
In his speech, Yushchenko described it as a festival having “national significance, not a merely folklore event.” “Each nation caring about its future should follow and preserve its traditions. Our task is to pass on this heritage to our children. This is what makes us a state,” he said.
The president greeted the participants of the festival, more than 10,000 visitors from Canada, the United States, Poland, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belarus and Russia, praising the Boyko region as a land of “glorious traditions and prominent personalities,” among them Petro Sagaidachny, Ivan Franko and Oleksa Dovbush.
He pledged to make Ukraine united and prosperous. “Feeling your warmth, I would like to say firmly and clearly: we will restore order in our country. There will be many changes and I will spare no effort to introduce them,” he said, adding that early parliamentary elections was “one of the steps aimed at stabilizing the country.”
The Yushchenkos watched a performance and viewed an exhibition.
