 On November 8, 2007 Third Annual Forum: REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: FROM PLANNING TO IMPLEMENTATION: UKRAINIAN AND INTERNATIONAL TRENDS AND TENDENCIES took place in Kyiv.
On November 8, 2007 the Canada-Ukraine Partnership Project for Regional Governance and Development, (RGD Project) implemented by the Canadian Urban Institute and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, held Third Annual Forum on “REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: FROM PLANNING TO IMPLEMENTATION: UKRAINIAN AND INTERNATIONAL TRENDS AND TENDENCIES ” in Kyiv. The Forum was organized in partnership with the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the Ministry for Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine and National Association of Regional Development Agencies (NARDA).
The Forum was convened for the purpose of promoting the dialogue between central and regional governments, local self-governments, civil society organizations, think tanks of Ukraine and international assistance projects on regional governance and development. Participants of the Forum had the opportunity to discuss Ukrainian and international practices in regional policy implementation.
120 participants, including representatives of central and local executive authorities, local self-government bodies, regional development agencies, civil society organizations, international organizations, international technical assistance programs and projects, academia from Kyiv and 15 regions of Ukraine, as well as experts from Canada, Hungary and Lithuania attended the Forum.
The format of the Forum included a plenary session and three concurrent workshops. Anatoliy Tkachuk, Advisor to the President of Ukraine, President of NARDA, opened the forum and chaired the plenary session. Introductory remarks were provided by Tamara Romas Figol, Second Secretary, Development, Embassy of Canada to Ukraine, Andrew Farncombe, Director, International Partnerships, Canadian Urban Institute, Olexandra Kuzhel, Deputy Minister, Ministry for Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine and Volodymyr Kaltsev, Deputy Head, Zaporizhzhia Oblast State Administration.
Four keynote presentations were delivered during the plenary session. Olena Nyzhnyk, Director, Department for Regional Development, Ministry of Economy of Ukraine discussed new instruments and approaches for regional policy formulation and implementation. Bohdan Onyschuk, Q.C., Chairman of the Board, Canadian Urban Institute, Senior Partner at “Gowling Lafleur Henderson” LLP shared with the participants North America’s experience in regional development. Peter Szegvari, Director General, Regional Development Holding, Hungary delivered a presentation entitled “Regional Policy under Europeanization: Europe of the Regions.” Volodymyr Vakulenko, Head of Regional Development, Local Self-government and Urban Management Department, National Academy of Public Administration at the President of Ukraine spoke about present day and future trends of regional development in Ukraine.
In the afternoon, three concurrent workshops on major themes in regional development took place.
The participants of Workshop 1: Participatory Approach to Planning and Implementation in Zakarpattya and Zaporizhzhia Regions, discussed the role of the public in changing approaches to strategic planning; inclusive approach to implementation of regional strategies; effective partnership for sustainable regional development and gender equality in strategic planning process. The panel speakers of this workshop were Ella Slepian, Head, Main Economic Department, Zaporizhzhia Oblast State Administration, Vasyl Papp, Deputy Head, Main Economic Department, Zakarpattya Oblast State Administration, RGD strategic planning experts for Zaporizhzhia and Zakarpattya oblasts, as well as RGD Ukrainian gender expert. The workshop was chaired by Yevgen Fyshko, First Vice-President, NARDA.
Myroslava Lendel, Associate Professor, Uzhgorod National University, RGD Project Expert, chaired Workshop 2: Public-Private Partnership for Regional Strategies Implementation. The participants of this workshop discussed RGD project’s research findings on Ukrainian and international approaches to public-private partnerships (PPP); the legal framework and institutional arrangements required to establish these partnerships; challenges and opportunities associated with implementing PPP; the roles of public agencies in developing PPPs; and other issues related to building partnerships between the government and the private sector for the purpose of implementing development programs in Ukraine.
Svitlana Slava, Deputy Director, Zakarpattya Regional Center for Social and Economic Studies, National Academy of Sciences, RGD Project Pxpert, chaired Workshop 3: Developing Investment Attractiveness of the Regions. The participants of this workshop had an opportunity to interact with Ukrainian, Hungarian and Lithuanian experts to discuss different approaches to supporting implementation of regional strategies and development programs, including state support and investment into regional development, local initiatives in regional development, investments into innovations, clusters of development, and the use of technoparks and technopolis.
The success of the forum allowed the RGD Project to gather a wide range of ideas, opinions, and concerns from key stakeholders in Ukraine’s regional governance and development, which will be instrumental in informing the next phase of the project and in responding to Ukraine’s needs in this field.
Forum materials are available in the subsection “Forums” in “Project Activities and Events” Section
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