Trostyanets: Investment-Minded Chocolate Capital
Shepetivka: Success after Eight Years of Bad Luck
Today, the City Radas in Trostyanets, Sumy Oblast, and Shepetivka, Khmelnytsky Oblast, unanimously approved their respective Economic Development Strategic Plans.
Presenting the draft plan at the Trostyanets City Rada meeting, Mayor Yuriy Bova also spoke about prospects for creating an industrial zone in the city for investment attraction, Rada Secretary Alina Shatska told the LED Monitor.
Investment Attraction is on of three action plans within the strategy of Trostyanets, the other two being SME Development and Communal Infrastructure Development. In the Strategic Vision, which is also a component of the plan, Trostyanets is called the "chocolate capital of Ukraine" and a "city with foreign investment experience" – both an apparent reference to renowned Kraft Foods Ukraina, which has its chocolate factory in Trostyanets.
In Shepetivka, the strategy focuses on critical issues that are nearly identical with those in Trostyanets in terms of their titles: Support of SME, Communal Infrastructure, and Investment Attraction.
The plan was presented by Deputy City Mayor Vasyl Kulachuk and went over well, according to Vasyl Kashevsky, independent consultant who helped Shepetivka in the strategic planning process. He said such a favorable reception came as no surprise since over last eight years the city several times attempted to design a strategy, failing every time.
The Economic Development Strategic Plans in both cities were drafted by respective Expert Committees of community leaders with assistance from the USAID LED project. The cities have become Ukraine's 47th and 48th to adopt an economic development strategy under the project. In 15 more cities the strategic planning process is in progress or draft strategic plans are pending consideration by City Radas.