12 April 2016, 12:30
Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government Serhii Vlasenko has met with the Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Ukraine Holger Tausch, human security advisor at the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, Senior Coordinator of the Swiss-Ukrainian project "Decentralization Support in Ukraine" (DESPRO) O.Garnets, and project coordinator and experts of these institutions.
At the beginning of the meeting S.Vlasenko congratulated H.Tausch on his appointment as Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Ukraine and thanked the Office and the Swiss-Ukrainian project "Decentralization Support in Ukraine" (DESPRO) for fruitful long-term cooperation with the Committee, in particular, for the assistance in organization of a visit of the Committee members to Poland in early April 2016.
The Chairperson of the Committee noted that in the conditions of active implementation of local self-government and power decentralization reforms in Ukraine experience of Switzerland as "the motherland of direct democracy" is invaluable for the practical implementation of European principles of democratic governance and the building-up of effective model of participatory democracy in our country.
The head of the Committee said that "to date, the Committee has for consideration a series of draft laws aimed at enhancing the involvement of members of territorial communities in solving local issues, and among them is the draft laws of Ukraine "On the bodies of population’s self-organisation" No.2466, "On general meetings (conferences) of members of territorial communities in place of residence" No.2467, and effective implementation of legislative initiatives made depends on the successful introduction into the national legislation of successful international experience in the building-up of civil society."
Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Ukraine assured that the Swiss Confederation remains a committed partner of Ukraine in the matters of building-up the democracy and confirms its interest in diversification of Ukrainian-Swiss cooperation's directions.
The sides also discussed the implementation of the Minsk agreements, release of Nadiya Savchenko, current situation and strategic directions of power decentralization reform in Ukraine.