(MENAFN- UkrinForm) More than 400 mayors and high-ranking representatives from Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, the United States, Sweden, Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany and other countries met at the 5th International Mayors Summit in Moldova on April 11.
The founders of the summit, the American Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), told this to Ukrinform.
In total, 480 participants took part in the event, including 60 Ukrainian mayors and heads of communities.
For the first time in its eight years of existence, the International Mayors Summit, founded in Ukraine, took place abroad -- in Moldova -- with the support of President Maia Sandu.
"European integration is the only way to ensure the prosperity of communities in Moldova, Ukraine and the European region. And work on the transformation of the country should be carried out in cooperation with local communities," Sandu said in her speech at the opening of the event.
The mayors presented projects aimed at reconstruction and sustainable development to their international colleagues.
Read also: Ukraine giving Moldova peace – Sandu
Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych announced the creation of a website for monitoring international aid -- a system of transparency and integrity that will help establish trust and restore the city.
Mihai Jurca, the mayor of the Romanian city of Oradea, in turn, shared the experience of attracting EU funding for the construction of critical urban infrastructure, which also helped to attract investors, create new jobs and strengthen the city's economic development. According to Jurca, Ukraine and Moldova also need European funding in order to obtain even more resources and opportunities in the future.
"In today's global world, mayors are not just managers who are temporarily hired to manage cities. They are change agents, ambassadors and visionaries working to create sustainable, competitive and happy places to live. This is not an easy task, and for Ukrainian mayors it becomes even more difficult under the war conditions," concluded Iryna Ozymok, founder of the International Mayors Summit and Local Economic Development Program Director at WNISEF.
During the Summit, ten pairs of cities were also awarded the "The Power of Partnership" special award for their joint projects in the field of humanitarian aid, cultural exchange, education, infrastructure, etc. The partnerships of the following cities were also awarded, among them Mykolaiv (Ukraine) - Chełm (Poland), Vinnytsia (Ukraine) - Karlsruhe (Germany), Khmelnytskyi (Ukraine) - Šiauliai (Lithuania) + Ciechanów (Poland), Chortkiv (Ukraine) - Caravaggio (Italy), Kopychyntsi (Ukraine) - Liskeard (Great Britain) + Cavarzere (Italy), Bilogorodka (Ukraine) - Tyresö (Sweden), Dănceni (Moldova) - Filipeștii de Pădure (Romania), Edineț (Moldova) - Alba Iulia (Romania), Băcioi (Moldova) - Oradea (Romania), Sireți (Moldova) - Tulucești (Romania).
In addition, Ozymok announced the launch of the "Growth Poles" study by the International Mayors Summit, WNISEF, CIVITTA, and EasyBusiness. The research is designed to identify effective tools of economic growth for Ukrainian cities, proposals for better regional planning, taking into consideration regional differences, as well as approaches for rapid development of depressed regions of Ukraine. The concept of "growth poles" was first applied in France as a post-war reconstruction tool, which is designed to create conditions for decentralized economic development and support the strong to lead the weak regions. Today, this concept is successfully applied in more than 45 countries.
The Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), funded by the U.S. government through USAID, is the first $285 million regional private equity fund in Ukraine and Moldova, which has invested more than $188 million in 136 companies and helped raise $2.4 billion in the region for 29 years of work.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, on October 28-29, 2023, Malta hosted the third summit at the level of foreign policy and national security advisors to discuss the Ukrainian Peace Formula.
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