On September 14, the Chervonohrad Community signed a letter of intent to establish cooperation with the municipality of Trbovlje, Republic of Slovenia. The signatories were Andrii Zalivskyi, head of the Chervonohrad City Council, and Maja Hvala, mayor of the municipality of Trbovlje.
The document was signed thanks to the U-LEAD with Europe Programme as part of the Bridges of Trust. Making Partnerships between Municipalities from Ukraine and Slovenia Sustainable! Initiative, as reported by the U-LEAD with Europe Programme Lviv Oblast Regional Office.
The letter of intent to establish cooperation was signed immediately after a plenary gathering of Ukrainian and Slovenian partner-municipalities that took place in Kyiv on September 13. The gathering was aimed at finding areas of possible cooperation between the municipalities and planning activities to share experiences, knowledge, and skills.
The event brought together representatives from 16 Ukrainian and 11 Slovenian municipalities as well as 14 Ukrainian and 9 Slovenian mayors, altogether 45 representatives of municipalities from Ukraine and Slovenia. It resulted in establishing and strengthening cooperation between the partner-municipalities.
By signing the letter of intent, the parties thereto agreed to exchange information that may be of interest to the communities and promote cooperation between the municipalities. Further plans call for conducting meetings and organizing activities.
"While working with communities, one comes to realize that they are now responsible for the various aspects of their residents’ life. There is still little experience of making responsible decisions as our European colleagues have gained. Since lockdown restrictions were imposed, online forums have begun to take place with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, giving representatives of European municipalities an opportunity to share their practices of effectively overcoming the consequences of the pandemic. Representatives of Slovenia were the most active among them. Today's signing of letters of intent is a logical continuation of this activity, which, hopefully, is shifting from being virtual to being real,"
commented Andrii Hnyda, decentralization and local self-government advisor to the U-LEAD with Europe Programme Lviv Oblast Regional Office.
Community representatives will also work on potential projects that can be implemented as part of future cooperation.