On 25 April, the Ukrainian Region of Dnipropetrovsk hosted a conference organized by the Assembly of European Regions (AER) on the opportunities interregional cooperation can offer in the context of the Eastern Partnership.
The event gathered 150 European, national and regional political representatives, among which Lower Silesia and Liege city’s representatives. A partner meeting for the LDA Dnipropetrovsk was part of this event.
Per Vinther, Governing Board member of ALDA, was one of the speaker along with Yevhen UDOD, Head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council and Bartłomiej OSTROWSKI, Director of the International Cooperation Office of Lower Silesia. Peter Sondergaard, ALDA’s policy officer in charge of the establishment of the LDA Dnipropetrovsk, was also present at this event. The AER conference was indeed the opportunity for ALDA and Lower Silesia to present the prospects of LDA Dnipropetrovsk, and find additional partners for the project.
The LDA’s partners will continue to look for additional partners during the upcoming months and will also clarify operational issues for the LDA. A new partner meeting is foreseen in Strasbourg at the end of June, and the opening of the LDA is scheduled to take place on September 26 this year, one month and a half before the 3rd Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The strong commitment of the partners is extremely encouraging especially as the opening of more LDAs in Ukraine could be considered, not to mention in neighbouring countries as Mr. Ion Stavila, Moldovan Ambassador to Ukraine, expressed interest in an LDA in Moldova during the meeting.