Congressional hearings on the topic 'Recovery and Development of Regions in the Context of Ukraine's EU Accession Preparation' have taken place

The Congressional hearings serve as a platform for open and direct dialogue between representatives of central executive authorities, regional military administrations, regional councils, local self-government, all-Ukrainian associations of local self-government bodies, MTD projects, and experts involved in the development and implementation of the new state regional policy to foster understanding and cooperation, including the implementation of the Roadmap for Ukraine's EU accession.

The hearings were organized by the Office of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine and the Chamber of Regions of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine with the support of the Swiss-Ukrainian project 'Cohesion and Regional Development of Ukraine' (UCORD).

At the beginning of the meeting, the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Executive Secretary of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Oleksiy Kuleba, emphasized that renewing state and regional development strategies is impossible without the revival and discussion of planning approaches.

'One of Ukraine's tasks on the path to European integration is to update state and regional development strategies, which is impossible without broad discussions of strategic planning and recovery. Achieving full European integration is also impossible without completing the decentralization reform and making legislative changes along the way.

However, I am confident that, working together with parliament, the government, and local self-government bodies, we can and will do this in line with our commitments. It is also important that representatives of the European Union and experts from countries that have already gone through their European integration processes are participating in today's Congressional hearings. They will share their experiences and advise us on how to do this as quickly as possible,' emphasized Oleksiy Kuleba."