Permanent Representative Tamila Tasheva took part in the discussion as a speaker at the round table “Three Years of the New Administrative and Territorial Structure of Ukraine: Successes, Challenges and Prospects”. The event was organized by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine and the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform with the participation of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Building, Local Self-Government, Regional and Urban Development with the support of the U-LEAD Program.

In addition to the Permanent Representative, the roundtable was attended by representatives of the state, local governments, experts and members of the Ukrainian Parliament. In particular, the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Kornienko, MP Vitaliy Bezgin joined the discussion, and the event was moderated by Vyacheslav Nehoda, Head of the Office of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine.

Ms. Tasheva joined the discussion of the impact of the decentralization reform, as well as opportunities to improve the legislation in the field of administrative and territorial structure of the country, in particular, the prospects for implementing the reform in the temporarily occupied Crimea after its liberation.

The Permanent Representative emphasized the importance of revising the approach to the decentralization process in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in order to build an effective governance system after de-occupation and to illustrate to the local population the progress of reforms that took place in Ukraine during the nine years of war.

“Decentralization and community capacity is an important element for strengthening democracy and involving the people in governance. This process should be effective in Crimea as well. To do this, we need to adopt legislative initiatives today that will not limit the effect of the reform on the peninsula after de-occupation,” said Tamila Tasheva.

The Permanent Representative also spoke about the need for legislative changes that would resolve the problems in establishing military administrations in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and help define territorial communities on the peninsula. In particular, it is expedient to establish 10 district military administrations in accordance with the new division, which is a simpler process and will require fewer resources than the establishment of 14 administrations of the “old” districts.

In addition, Ms. Tasheva emphasized the importance of legislation on indigenous peoples, who should be able to participate in the management of their land. The Permanent Representative also reminded that the formation of a personnel reserve for the liberated territory is already underway.

The Mission expresses its gratitude to the organizers for holding such an important discussion on the topical issues of recovery and development of Ukraine.

Crimea is Ukraine!