On November 22, 2006, the Rivne City Rada has adopted the city’s Economic Development Strategic Plan in a unanimous vote of 53 Rada members present at the session, the head of a local NGO told LED Monitor.
According to Vasyl Kashevsky, head of the Volyn Resource Center, the Rada members were well aware of the draft Strategic Plan’s contents, so they decided to skip formal presentation of the plan and go directly to conclusions by the Rada’a standing commissions. All of the commission chairpersons spoke in favor of the plan.
Mr. Kashevsky said the Rada also decided to expand the Implementation Management Committee for the plan by including in it the chairpersons of all standing commissions and the leaders of all factions.
The Rivne Economic Development Strategic Plan was worked out by an Expert Committee formed in the city under the USAID Local Economic Development (LED) project. On June 29, 2006, Rivne Mayor Viktor Chayka and USAID Local Economic Development (LED) Project Chief of Party Howard Ockman signed a Letter of Intent between the City Rada and the project. That day the committee assembled for the first time for an introductory meeting.
The Expert Committee – 23 representatives from local businesses, scientific and educational institutions, and government – met four times more. At their last meeting on October 4, 2005, they approved the draft plan and decided to introduce it into the City Rada. The LED project supported the entire strategic planning process, which also included compilation of a Community Profile and a Business Attitude Survey.
On Nov. 7, 2006, a LED project advisor had a two-hour meting with members of the Rada to present them the Strategic Plan, discuss it with them, and answer their questions.
It their strategic vision, the plan drafters see Rivne as a “cultural and educational center… with diversified economy; a hub of transportation and intellectual technologies. … A city with developed enterprise support infrastructure, favorable for business and investment.” To make this vision come true, the Strategic Plan suggests that the city would focus on two critical issues: SME and business infrastructure development, and investment attraction.
