December 22, 2015, in the city of Zaporizhia, signing of Memoranda of Cooperation (MOC) between PLEDDG Project and Zaporizhia Oblast State Administration, Zaporizhia oblast council, and 4 partner cities of the Project in Zaporizhia oblast (Zaporizhia, Melitopol, Berdiansk, and Energodar) took place. The festive signing of the memorandum became the “starting point” in the official cooperation between PLEDDG and Zaporizhia oblast aimed at promotion of democracy in the oblast and development of its economic potential.
Memorandum signing took place in the building of Zaporizhia Oblast State Administration during the roundtable discussion on a topic “Areas of PLEDDG Project implementation”. On the side of the Project and Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the memoranda were signed by Project Director Oleksandr Kucherenko. The Project Delegation also included Kadie Ward, Senior Governance Advisor, and experts of the Project experts Igor Lepyoshkin, Valeriy Kokot, Oleg Voitovych, and Solomiya Rozhko.
Kostiantyn Bryl, acting head of Zaporizhia Oblast State Administration, stressed that one of the cooperation condition between the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and PLEDDG with Zaporizhia oblast was the elaboration of the Prospective Plan of Community’s Formation. Thanks to the adoption of that document by Zaporizhia oblast council, it has become possible to develop cooperation between FCM and Zaporizhia oblast which has held a course for decentralization and actively implements measures of power system reformation. Mr. Bryl supposes that signing the memorandum of cooperation with PLEDDG will become an important step for the oblast on its way of democratic implementation.
I am sure that this Project will be very useful for our oblast because right now we are developing a new state in which legality and order rule. Attraction of the best world experience is very important for us. We will do our best to bring our cooperation to a positive effect which will feel citizens of Zaporizhia
Grygorii Samardak, head of the oblast council thanked Project representatives for the understanding of the situation Zaporizhia oblast has faced providing shelter to several thousands of internally displaced persons from the temporarily occupied territory and expressed his hope for the fruitful cooperation.
Nowadays as never before, Zaporizhia oblast needs new ways of development. And PLEDDG can become the starting point for our region.
According to Project experts, Zaporizhia oblast was chosen for the participation in the Project for a good reason. It is a big industrial center of Ukraine, on the one side, and a region with a powerful agricultural potential on the other one.
This cooperation is significant for us. It is honorable and interesting to work in Zaporizhia oblast which is famous for its industrial and agricultural potential
Kadie Ward, stressed the importance of attracting citizens for the implementation of changes.
Everything goes well in Canada because citizens provide their assistance. To help Ukrainian cities, we will attract experienced experts from Canada, Poland, and other countries. But we seem to fail without assistance of local citizens
She also thinks that an important constituent part of the cities’ development is marketing and branding of Zaporizhia oblast cities. It will enable them correctly position themselves not only on the territory of Ukraine but also on the markets of Europe and world.
Zaporizhia officials expressed confidence that cooperation with Canadian specialists would bring Zaporizhia oblast to the world standards of local governance.