On 19 November 2018 the Head of the Department of International Connections of the Mission Yevhen Samukha and the Chief Cinsultant Valeria Pakhomova took part in the conference on theme: “European Choice of Ukraine: Progress and Prospects” organized by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IERPC).

The participants of the conference were Huge Mingarelli, the Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, Martin Hagström , the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden, Oleksandr Sushko, executive director of the International Fund “Renaissance”, Mikle Emerson, senior researcher of the CEPS Center (Belgium), ex economy advisor of the President of European Commission, former EU ambassador in Moscow (1991-1995); Veronica Movchan, scientific director of the IERPC; Konstantin Yeliseyev, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine , Olga Stefanyshyna, director of the Governmental Office on European and Euro-Atlantic integration; Taras Kachka, an advisor of the Ukrainian foreign minister, the strategy advisor of the Fund “Renaissance”; experts, representatives of civil society associations and the press. In the cause of the conference the current realization of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement was discussed, particularly its achievements and the Agreement implementation on the regional level, participation of the public in this process significantly. Additionally, the ways of cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union in future were pointed out as well.

The experts presented the directions of the Ukrainian development: trade, economy, electricity, social standards and political dialogue to associate with the EU. During the conference, two books “Deepening EU-Ukraine Relations: What, Why and How?” (its second edition) and “Struggle for Good Governance in Eastern Europe” were presented by Ukrainian – Belgium researchers, headed by Mikle Emerson (CEPS) and Veronica Movchan (the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting).