Monthly Report 2: July & August 2005
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The following activities were carried out in
July & August: |
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Contracts for Regional Development
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Ministry of Economy specialists Tatyana Kravets
and Maria Poberezhna completed a first draft of a policy document on the
introduction of contracts for regional development in Ukraine. Additional
material was provided by Ukrainian experts Ihor Sanzharovsky and Markiyan
Dacyshyn. The draft addresses the policy objectives, institutional arrangements
and practical procedures for adoption of the contract model, and the implications
of adoption for Ukrainian legislation. |
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LARGIS II expert Gerard Marcou met with the authors
of the draft on 3-4 August to review content and agree amendments as necessary.
A short study visit to examine the operation of the contract in a French
region is planned before completion of a final draft for consultation in
September/October. |
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State Capital Investment Grants |
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LARGIS II experts Ken Davey and Pawel Swianiewicz
met with Ministry of Economy specialists in early August to agree a programme
of work to review and revise the current system of allocating capital investment
grants (subventions) from the state budget to the regions. |
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Among the key issues identified by the Ministry
are a) clear criteria for investment grants embracing both the promotion
of economic growth and addressing the needs of deprived areas; b) the legislative
impediments to the multi-year funding required by capital projects of any
significant scale; c) conditions for co-financing by the state and the region
or sub-region which take proper account of the revenue available to the
receiving region, city or municipality; d) institutional mechanisms for
agreeing and distributing grants which minimise delays and maximise spending
from the budget allocation for a given year. |
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LARGIS II experts gave oral and written comment
and advice. Ministry representatives agreed to prepare a draft policy document
for further discussion in September. It is intended that revised procedures
for allocation of state capital investment grants should be in place for
the 2006 budget year. |
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Ukraine State Strategy for Regional Development
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A complete Ukrainian translation of the Draft
Polish State Strategy for Regional Development was prepared for the Ministry
of Economy and can be obtained from LARGIS II Project Co-ordinator Tetyana
Korneyeva, e-mail tkorneyeva@eru.org.ua
or downloaded from EuroRegio Ukraine web site at www.eru.org.ua/en.
The final version of this document will be put on the web site after it
is approved by the Polish government. |
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Final terms of reference for this component await
the appointment of Ukrainian experts (see below). |
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Methodology for Defining and Ranking of Depressed Regions & Territories
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As reported in the LARGIS II monthly report for
June, the purpose of this assistance to the Ministry of Economy is to review
and improve the existing methodology for measuring levels of social and
economic development at region and sub-regional territorial level and to
develop a meaningful tool for ranking the relative deprivation of different
territories. The methodology will link directly to the work on capital investment
grants above. |
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A lead Ukrainian expert, Markiyan Dacyshyn, has
been appointed and a work programme agreed with Olena Nyzhnyk, Head of the
Regional Policy Department of the Ministry of Economy. The work programme
includes consultation and testing of any proposed methodology against the
real-life situation in selected oblasts. |
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Appointment of Ukrainian Experts
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With the assistance of EuroRegio Ukraine, the
following independent experts have been identified and are working with
LARGIS II: |
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Yuri Ganushak (State Capital Investment Grants) |
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Markiyan Dacyshyn (Methodology on Depressed Regions) |
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Igor Sanzharovskyi (Regional Contracts) |
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Sergei Maksymenko (Regional Development Agencies) |
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·The Ministry of Economy's nominations for independent
Ukrainian experts to join the working group on the State Strategy are still
awaited at the time of writing. |
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LARGIS II Web Site
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The web site will be established in September. |
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Duncan Leitch,
August 2005
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