How to join NATO.  Sir Stewart Eldon, UK Permanent Representative to NATO, is in Kyiv to meet key decision-makers and deliver two speeches on NATO.  The Bucharest Summit in April 2008 agreed that Ukraine would become a member of NATO and set up a programme of Annual National Plans, or ANPs. The ANP process and regular meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission provide a powerful  and effective framework for  driving forward co-operation between Ukraine and the Alliance.  Joint work is already taking place in numerous areas, eg defence reform, intelligence sector reform, training for civil servants, and improvements to Ukrainian legislation in line with democratic norms; and Ukraine is contributing to NATO operations in places as varied as Afghanistan and the Mediterranean.  In discussion  with Sir Stewart, several Ukrainian colleagues note that the key to progress now is for Ukraine to carry out practical reforms, not only in the military field but also in wider areas such as judicial reform and anti-corruption measures.  "In order to have a chance of joining NATO," someone says, "Ukraine must make itself ready to join NATO".  This sounds like excellent commonsense to me.  In practice, whether Ukraine joins NATO or not will depend mainly on whether the people of Ukraine wish to do so; and whether the government and institutions of the country can bring about the reforms required to make it possible.  The good news is that most of those reforms will benefit the country and its people whether or not they want to join the alliance.  This should make doing those reforms a win-win.  The key question now is whether the president elected in January is able to build sufficient consensus in the country to ensure Ukraine gets the effective governance it needs.  If that can happen, the  prospects for Ukraine look bright.