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On March 14, 2018, PLEDDG Project jointly with Ukraine Investment Promotion Office “UkraineInvest” held the V All-Ukrainian City Development Institutions Forum (CDIForum2018), which was dedicated to investment activity and city development institutions. It was the fifth time that PLEDDG Project had organized a forum dedicated to city development institutions, with financial support from the Government of Canada.

The Forum’s objective was to deepen the process of interaction, an exchange of experience and dialogue between Ukrainian and foreign city development institutions.

About 100 representatives of central and regional authorities, Ukrainian local and regional development organizations, international technical assistance projects, scientists, and experts took part in the Forum.

The Forum was divided into 4 plenary sessions::

  • State reforms aimed at improving investment climate in Ukraine
  • New investors and success stories
  • Active investors and their support
  • Investment attraction tools

Oleksandr Kucherenko, Director of PLEDDG Project, and Ulyana Khromyak, Deputy Director of Ukraine Investment Promotion Office UkraineInvest, opened the Forum with welcoming speech.

We think that it is the city development institutions that represent a truly diverse audience uniting different types of organizations, such as civil groups, municipal institutions, enterprises, and business associations. City development institutions act as agents of change in their cities,

– said Oleksandr Kucherenko.

At the first plenary session, Iryna Novikova, Head of Public-Private Partnership Unit of Investment Attraction Department of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, Andriy Melnyk, Head of Investment Attraction Tools Unit of Investment Attraction Department of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, and Daniil Volokitin, Chief Specialist of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, presented state reforms aimed at the improvement of investment climate in Ukraine.

The second plenary session featured success stories centered on investment promotion in Ukrainian regions. Ruslan Dzhabrailov, Deputy Head of Regional Development and Investment Department of Vinnytsia Regional State Administration, Serhiy Kotsur, First Deputy Head of Kolomyia City Council, and Roman Matys, Head of Investment Department, Lviv Regional State Administration, discussed their cooperation with investors.

Historically, Vinnytsia has always been an agrarian region, which accounts for the fact that most investments have gone into the processing and food industry. Nevertheless, the economic policy of Vinnytsia State Regional Administration is oriented towards diversification of the local economy. That is why we are now actively working on attracting investments into other sectors.

– said Ruslan Dzhabrailov.

I am certain that last year Kolomyia was on everyone’s lips in connection to coming of one of the largest investors into our region (ed. German company “Leoni”). It has been the largest investor for Ivano-Frankivsk region since Ukraine’s independence. Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration should be acknowledged for their high-quality work, as after the Leoni plant had opened, I had a chance to speak with the investor who told me how important meetings with representatives of Ivano-Frankivsk State Administration were for them to make a final decision. The investor was met, introduced to the region, some of the cities, and some of the sites. There were 4 main criteria under which the investor opted for Kolomyia; they included resources, location, site, and cooperation with the local government,

Serhiyi Kotsur said.

At the third plenary session, with Iaroslav Gregirchak, Deputy Business Ombudsman, Alexander Markus, Chairman of German-Ukrainian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and Mykola Pasko, Head of Object Distribution Department of Henkel Ukraine, as panel speakers, forum participants discussed support for investors.

A special guest speaker of the Forum was Gerald Gabinet, Director of Economic Development and Tourism, Strathcona County, Alberta, Canada. Gerald Gabinet explained how Strathcona County attracted and retained investors. He also presented the Strathcona’s campaign on investment promotion – “In Strathcona You Can”.

We organize various demonstration events. For instance, in one case we ran promotional videos about local businesses in local cinemas, which got across the message that small and medium-sized businesses were the cornerstone of our economy. In another case, we presented businesses with flags of our province, which they could hoist at flagpoles on their premises”, Gerald Gabinet shared some creative ways by Strathcona County local authorities to retain business in the community.

Investment attraction tools became the main theme of the fourth plenary session. The representatives of PLEDDG partner cities Artur Boyko, Head of Foreign Relations Department, Zaporizhia Regional State Administration, Inna Ischenko, Director of Economics, Trade and Investment Attraction Department of Poltava State Administration, Vitaliy Pogosyan, Director of Economics and Investment Department of Vinnytsia City Council, and Valentyna Zatyshnyak, Director of UE “Dnipropetrovsk Regional Investment Agency”, of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council (DIA), shared their experience with investment promotion, particularly in regard to implementation of operational standards for work with investors and development of an investment promotion program in cooperation with PLEDDG Project.

Each region on its own is looking for tools for investment promotion to suit them best. Jointly with PLEDDG experts, Zaporizhia region has put into place and is now implementing the standards and methodology of investment attraction into our regional economy. These standards and methodology are used both throughout the region and for each united territorial community,

– Artur Boyko explained.

The Forum’s ended with a business simulation game called “Authorities, Community and Investors: Effective Dialogue”, during which participants, divided into small groups, were tasked with finding solutions to a number of problematic situations.