Earlier, the Romanian commune of Ciugud and the municipality of Vorokhta signed a memorandum of cooperation at the official ceremony. The event was held online from the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast as part of the Bridges of Trust initiative.
Gheorghe Dămian, Mayor of Ciugud, Romania, and Oleh Dzemiuk, head of the Vorokhta Village Council, presented their municipalities and signed the memorandum using an electronic digital signature.
This was preceded by the internship of two Vorokhta representatives in the Romanian commune. With the assistance of U-LEAD with Europe, over the week, Ukrainian professionals studied the experience of their colleagues in the provision of administrative services, implementation of international projects, education and cultural management, etc.
“The development of international partnerships is an important tool for strengthening our capabilities in wartime. Cooperation like this promotes the exchange of best practices and lays the groundwork for attracting financing from European funds. You can learn many things from Ciugud, including the introduction of the Smart Village concept and the digitalisation of services. In Romania, this commune is a leader in the implementation of digital tools in its activities. U-LEAD actively participated in the initiation of this partnership through cooperation with the NALAS Network. We hope that this cooperation will bring a lot of benefits to both municipalities,” said Mykola Siusko, Deputy Head of the Regional Operations Unit at U-LEAD.
Oleh Dzemiuk, head of the Vorokhta municipality, spoke about the idea of partnership:
“We were extremely interested in cooperation with the Romanian municipality where our employees were kindly accepted for internship. In such a difficult time for our country, we need cooperation with our European colleagues who provide Ukraine with a lot of help. We firmly believe that the experience of the commune of Ciugud will be interesting and useful for our municipality. We are eager to cooperate, learn from experience and share our accomplishments,” said the head of the village.
According to him, it is important for the Vorokhta municipality to adopt Ciugud’s experience in attracting grant funds. He noted that project applications for international funds could be prepared together with the Romanian commune. This has been determined as a priority in further cooperation by both parties.
“We would love to cooperate with Romanian colleagues in the field of education as well. No less important are water drainage, solid household waste management and other economic directions. It is fascinating to see Ciugud’s efforts in these directions and adopt certain practices for Vorokhta municipality,” said Oleh Dzemiuk.
Tourism was separately discussed as another field in which the Ukrainian and Romanian municipalities can cooperate. Vorokhta has a fairly developed tourist infrastructure, which brings a lot of money to the local budget.
Gheorghe Dămian, Mayor of Ciugud, Romania, expressed his support for the Ukrainian people and affirmed his readiness to cooperate with the municipality of Vorokhta for joint development:
“Preparation and implementation of joint projects financed by international funds are important for us. It is not only about the local level of the municipality, but also about larger territories and regions. Having some experience in this field, we believe that such cooperation will bring us many benefits. Especially if we cooperate in the triangle of local government, public and businesses,” said Gheorghe Dămian.
The mayor of the Romanian city agreed that tourism, project management and education should become pillars of future cooperation between the two municipalities.
Oleh Dzemiuk invited his Romanian colleagues to visit the Vorokhta municipality at the level of official delegations to learn about its geography and activities.
The parties agreed to take time to develop project ideas and more specific proposals, which will become the basis for a strong partnership.