20 November 2015, 14:00
Volodymyr Slyshynskyi, acting head of the Staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and Taras Prytula, the president of the League of Interns NGO, signed the memo on continuation of cooperation between the Staff of the Verkhovna Rada and the NGO on Friday.
"An important document has been signed. The document is continuation of the work performed by the Verkhovna Rada and League of Interns for twenty years with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and it defines new landmarks in our cooperation," said Volodymyr Slyshynskyi in his speech welcoming interns who started their internship in the 2015-2016 season. He voiced a hope that the signing of the Memo will give a new impetus to work and 99 young interns will be studying the work of the Parliament, will be gaining experience, knowledge and skills they will need to develop the State. "This program is a good example of comprehensive cooperation of the civil society with the bodies of the Government, with the Verkhovna Rada," said Volodymyr Slyshynskyi.
In his turn, Jed Barton, USAID Regional Mission Director for Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Cyprus, expressed satisfaction with the signing of the Memo. He noted it is "the 21st year of our cooperation, but the most important thing is that there is a desire to cooperate." He said it was good that young people come to the program, gain experience, build their own careers. He emphasized that participants in the program are "young people who strive knowledge, strive reforms in Ukraine and are ready to carry out these reforms for the sake of Ukraine's development."
Mr. Jed Barton urged the interns to strive development, to start working for the country.
Interns from all corners of Ukraine, including interns born in the Crimea and Donbas will have opportunities to fain certain experience during the work in the Staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Presidential Administration. They will take part in work at laws, organize sittings, roundtables, meetings, study rules, perform analysis of the State policies, meet with prominent political and public figures.
Former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada A. Shevchenko said Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Volodymyr Groysman supported an idea of continuation of the cooperation within the project and described it as "an element of a great staff reform we started in the Staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine."
Volodymyr Slyshynskyi handed interns IDs of participants in the project of the parliamentary internship.