Today, February 25, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine Ihor Petrashko joined the meeting of the Communities and Territories Development Council, chaired by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The event gathered a wide range of experts with the participation of government officials of all levels, local governments and international partners to establish effective cooperation and determine common priorities in the formation and implementation of regional policy.

The meeting was attended by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Speaker Dmytro Razumkov, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, the Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe Andreas Kiefer, the Special Envoy of the Government of Germany on Decentralization, Good Governance and Reforms in Ukraine Georg Milbradt, members of the Office of the President, Government, Parliament, heads of regional state administrations and territorial communities, city and village heads.

“Economic development is impossible to imagine without sustainable development of territorial communities, increasing their investment attractiveness and competitiveness. Active cooperation of government officials at all levels will allow to effectively implement common goals and priorities of state policy, and this, first of all, is the well-being of people throughout Ukraine,” commented the Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine Ihor Petrashko.

The participants of the meeting announced the establishment of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine, as well as presented plans for the development of communities and territories of Ukraine for 2021.

Background

The Communities and Territories Development Council is an advisory body under the President of Ukraine, which was established by the Decree of the President on December 18, 2019.

The main task of this authority is to establish effective interaction of state bodies with local governments in developing priorities of state regional policy and mechanisms of sustainable development of territorial communities, taking into account the standards of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the latest approaches to regional development, solving of problem issues of social and economic development of administrative-territorial units, etc.