Three More Ukrainian Regions Join EU Region Ready Program

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The Ministry for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine reported this on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

“Three more regions have joined the Region Ready program: Odesa, Rivne, and Chernivtsi. Together with the Sumy, Zakarpattia, Vinnytsia, and Cherkasy regions, which are already participating in the program, they will undergo practical preparation for working in line with the EU Cohesion Policy approaches,” the ministry said.

The Ministry explained that the program combines nationwide training with in-depth practical support for the regions. The participating regions will develop high-quality portfolios of investment projects and strengthen their management capacity.

At the same time, under Chapter 22, Ukraine has received eight benchmarks. The Ministry's next step is to approve a master plan in October this year, followed by a specific implementation roadmap.

The transformation of the State Regional Development Fund is also underway. The fund is expected to become the main mechanism for supporting regions and financing Cohesion Policy initiatives.

“This transformation has a particular context for Ukraine. The war is widening disparities between regions, while the logic of the EU Cohesion Policy is to reduce them. That is why support for frontline regions and other functional types of territories should become part of the new architecture of regional policy,” said Vitalii Bezgin, Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons.

Read also: EU will never recognize occupied Ukrainian territories as Russian

As previously reported, the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons will train 1,000 project managers to strengthen the capacity of local communities.

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