Klitschko: the Day of Dialogue at the Ukrainian Municipal Forum provides a space to find a common ground for all local self-government stakeholders
29.07.2021
The mayor of Kyiv and the chairman of the Association of the Ukrainian Cities (AUC) Vitali Klitschko kicked off the third and final day of the ХVІ Ukrainian Municipal Forum which takes place in Odesa. Addressing the plenary he remarked, that Day Three is called the Day of Dialogue and is dedicated to sustainable local economic and social development. It provides a space to encourage community leaders and the national authorities to debate the thorny issues of local self-government and find a common ground for all stakeholders.
In attendance was Dmytro Razumkov, Speaker of the Parliament who delivered an opening address and talked to the participants.
Today’s debate topics are the next steps of the local self-government reform, central budget revenue assignments, sectoral reforms, local economic development and improvement of legislation that tackles specific local issues. Klitschko remarked that the AUC has gathered a list of the biggest problems to attend to at the Forum and proposed solutions which were submitted to the central authorities. He pointed out, that though the Parliament has adopted a number of important laws on local self-government, still more needs to be done jointly by the communities, the Parliament and the central government. Because there are many draft government regulations requiring analysis and consideration.
“We are so excited to have Dmytro Razumkov, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada with us today. I appreciate that he recognises the importance of local self-government and came here to exchange views with representatives of local self-governments and visit addressing some major issues. Hope we all will benefit from that,” emphasized Vitali Klitschko.
The chairman of the AUC also thanked the Forum’s partner, U-Lead with Europe Programme for their systemic support and assistance in arranging the event.
The Ukrainian Municipal Forum is traditionally held once a year by the AUC and offers a networking platform for open dialogue between all stakeholders aimed to improve the lives of communities. This year’s convention brought together more than 500 community leaders, as well as Andreas Kiefer, the Secretary-General of Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Georg Milbradt, the German government’s special envoy for the Ukrainian decentralisation reform agenda and Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, member of the European Parliament.