The Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Oleksii Chernyshov met with the President of the French Senate Gérard Larcher, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France in Kyiv Etienne de Poncins, and representatives of the Senate.

In particular, the parties discussed the results of the decentralization reform and its role in resisting russian aggression.

"The decentralization reform implemented side by side with the European Union, taking into account the best practices of European countries, became a powerful framework that has strengthened our communities. I want to emphasize that the French experience in this area is very important for us," stressed Oleksii Chernyshov.

Deputy Minister Viacheslav Nehoda noted that the reform had been based on the task of bringing services as close as possible to citizens and strengthening the capacity of communities.

"Residents of communities, local self-government bodies became very motivated and interested in local development. This made it possible to rapidly improve the quality of services, accelerate the growth of local budgets and stimulate the development of infrastructure. Unfortunately, the full-scale invasion of the russian federation interrupted the opportunity to carry out the reforms that we had planned for this year. But I hope that we will have effective interaction with France, in particular in the search for the optimal model of the functioning of the system of local self-government and executive power," Viacheslav Nehoda emphasized.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed proposals for direct cooperation between the French and Ukrainian communities.

The Minister thanked for the powerful military and humanitarian support that France provides to Ukraine, for France's leadership in the process of Ukraine’s obtaining the status of a candidate for EU membership, as well as for a frank and emotional position about Ukraine's struggle for the ideas and values of a united Europe.