UKRAINIANS CAN COME TO TERMS, INDEED

Leaders of six political units in Kherson Oblast signed Letter of Intent with USAID project to unite efforts for regional economic development The region of the pilot project on the Kherson Oblast map On June 26, 2008, leaders of the Kherson Oblast's four cities and two raions (districts) signed a Letter of Intent with the USAID LED project, launching a pilot project aimed at enhancing their regional competitiveness. By doing so, they seem to overthrow two widespread clichés: that Ukrainians can never come to terms and that you find three hetmans where there are two Ukrainians. The document was signed by representatives from the LED project, the cities of Beryslav, Kakhovka, Nova Kakhovka and Tavriysk, and the raions of Beryslav and Kakhovka. The signing ceremony was part of the introductory meeting held for Strategic Development Committee of the Tavria Territorial Communities Association, as it is tentatively called. The signing of the Letter of Intent Though the meeting venue was the City Hall in Nova Kakhovka, it was more than once emphasized that it does not mean that this city will somehow be "more equal than others" among the participants in the common cause. As Nova Kakhovka Mayor Volodymyr Kovalenko put it, "We have common problems and have the good sense not to argue with each other on who of us is more important." Larysa Olenkovska, Kherson Oblast Deputy Governor (left): "I'm certainly pleased that this pilot project is being implemented just in the Kherson Oblast. And I'm pleased that from just competition we go further – to collaboration." Howard Ockman, LED Project Chief of Party (right): "We introduce a concept of competitiveness to this work. In general it involves building communities that have businesses that use innovations, up-to-date technologies; it involves building businesses that will have a market not this year only but also in the next ten or fifteen years; and it involves bringing in academics and technical institutes to find the latest and the newest high technology to help business. And also very important is that a business that grows in a community to be competitive needs to be ecologically clean" LED Project Chief of Party Howard Ockman in his opening speech pointed out that it was USAID who asked to do a pilot project on regional economic development. "This pilot project will allow them to decide whether more of this type of work should be done and funded by the US government in the future." LED Advisor Ihor Lepyoshkin reported that the pilot project site was selected after a lot of discussion. One of the reasons in favor of this region was the LED's positive prior experience there. "You can work and achieve real results," he said addressing the audience. Ihor Lepyoshkin, LED Advisor: "Our work is evaluated by the number of jobs created and the volume of investments attracted rather than the number of strategies drafted or meetings held" Tomáš Vlasák, LED expert from the Czech Republic, explained in more details why it was decided to scale up LED activities from the municipal to the regional level, and in what the regional strategic planning will differ from such work in separate cities. "We were looking for regions that can be called engines of some bigger areas," he said and added that the Kakhovka – Nova Kakhovka – Beryslav region is probably such an engine for the entire Kherson Oblast. According to the Czech expert, it is preferable to create a strategy for a region where businesses naturally cooperate. "Your region is a good example, because a lot of your economy is based on agricultural production and processing, which means that businesses are located in cities while suppliers are in rural areas." Mr. Vlasák said there will be two new elements in the regional pilot project as compared to the municipal strategic planning – an activity in which majority of the audience had participated in their cities. First, the Strategic Development Committee will identify two key industries in the region, and second, additional scan will be done for identification of regional issues or problems. After the meeting, Nova Kakhovka City Rada Secretary Oleksandr Lukyanenko took the guests from the LED project on a tour of investment project sites in the city. Earlier the USAID LED project helped draft economic developments strategies for the cities of Beryslav, Kakhovka and Nova Kakhovka (the city of Tavriysk is administratively within the latter). The local Radas adopted the Economic Development Strategic Plans in September and October 2007. Each of the plans focuses on investment attraction as a major economic development issue. Other issues include business development, city marketing and promotion, tourism development, and municipal infrastructure development. This mall appeared in Nova Kakhovka just a few months ago Tomáš Vlasák, a Czech national, looks satisfied with his shopping experience in Nova Kakhovka. Speaking at the Strategic Development Committee introductory meeting, he said: "When I visited your cities one month ago I was impressed with your enthusiasm. So I believe that this project has a potential to be successful, and I want to be part of this success" LED Project Chief of Party Howard Ockman (in the center) does not hide his delight in seeing the material results of Nova Kakhovka's investment attraction endeavors. Other persons on the photo are (left to right): LED Advisor Ihor Lepyoshkin, Nova Kakhovka City Rada Secretary Oleksandr Lukyanenko, LED Advisor Tomáš Vlasák, and Nova Kakhovka Agency for Regional Development Director Pavlo Yarmiy