Participating in the ceremony on the occasion of the official start of the Internship Program in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for 2015-2016 were Volodymyr Slyshynskyi, acting head of the Staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Kyrylo Tretiak, head of the department for provision of inter-parliamentary ties of the Staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Jed Barton, USAID Regional Mission Director for Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Cyprus, Viktor Liakh, president of Eastern Europe Foundation, Taras Prytula, the president of the League of Interns NGO, Ihor Kohut, director of the RADA Program (since November 2015), and 99 interns selected for participation in the Internship Program.
On behalf of Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Volodymyr Groysman, Volodymyr Slyshynskyi congratulated the interns on the start of the internship. "The signing of the Memo of Intent is an important event in the light of continuation of the cooperation between the Ukrainian Parliament and U.S. Agency for International Development. Interns will provide consultative assistance to the Staff of the Verkhovna Rada and people's deputies," he said. He addressed the interns. "You are not affected by the Soviet past, you understand that Ukraine's future is in the European Union. The Verkhovna Rada will be changing because of you, and some of former interns have become people's deputies - Pavlo Pynzenyk, Ostap Semerak."
Jed Barton noted that the Government of the United States has been supporting the League of Interns for twenty years - since 1995. "This cooperation has been preserved due to you - people who are ready for reforms and changes. Once John Kennedy said 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.' You must put this question before yourselves. Carrying out reforms requires readiness to work not for yourself, but for the country. This readiness from the side of the Verkhovna Rada symbolizes the development in Ukraine," he said.
In his speech Taras Prytula called the future graduates of the Internship Program the most valuable achievement. He also articulated the main task of the League of Interns NGO - provision together with foreign partners of proper material base for training of interns.
"Among you there are people born in Donbas and the Crimea… You represent the entire Ukraine. You are Ukraine's future," he said.
He also quoted words by Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko calling for persistent labor and patience "as you are destined to break this rock."
Andriy Shevchenko in his speech noted that the current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada is the best of all convocations in the years of Ukraine's independence. "Here the bravest reforms are born and there are people who can carry them out. Let your success encourage people not only in Ukraine, but also in the United States and Canada," he said.