Press accreditation opens for VI National Expert Forum, entitled "The key Issues of the Year". Applications for accreditation should be sent to [email protected] and logged by the phone 044 230 4962. Confirmation of accreditation is necessary for participation in the forum.
The forum will be held in the Parus business centre, Kyiv on 12 October. The registration of forum participants and guests will begin at 9 a.m.
The forum will include discussion panels titled "Decentralisation and state integrity", "Components of energy security", "Ukraine in Europe and the world."
The National Expert Forum is one of the leading Ukrainian discussion platforms, where Ukrainian and foreign government officials, politicians, businessmen and experts discuss the key issues on the agenda, present their vision of resolving urgent problems and provide forecasts of the socio-political and economic situation in Ukraine.
THE PROGRAMME OF THE FORUM
09:00 - 10:00 – Registration of participants and guests
10:00 - 10:15 – Opening ceremony
10:15 - 11:45 – Discussion Panel "DECENTRALISATION AND STATE INTEGRITY"
Questions for discussion:
· Building an effective governance model under decentralisation;
· Ways to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. The role of local communities;
· Competitive advantages of the regions. How should Ukrainian regions implement their potential best?
· Decentralisation: a wrong way or a real answer to the problems in Ukraine?
· Future of Donbas as part of Ukraine.
DISCUSSION PANEL PARTICIPANTS:
Oleh Synyutka, head of the Lviv Regional State Administration;
Yuriy Harbuz, head of the Luhansk Regional Military and Civil Administration;
Roman Bezsmertnyy, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for Administrative and Territorial Reform in 2005;
Ivan Miklos, Co-chairman of Strategic Advisory Group for Support of Ukrainian Reforms (SAGSUR).
PANEL EXPERTS: Viktoriya Ptashnyk, MP; Vira Nanivska, chairwoman of the Anna Yaroslavna Collegium; Yuriy Hanushchak, director of the Territory Development Institute; Vitaliy Kulyk, director of the Centre for Civil Society Studies; Mariya Repko, deputy director of the Centre for Economic Strategy; Taras Chornovil, political expert.
DISCUSSION PANEL MODERATED BY: Sonya Koshkina, editor in chief at LB.UA
11:45 - 12:00 – Coffee break and informal networking
12:00 - 13:15 – Discussion panel "COMPONENTS OF ENERGY SECURITY"
Questions for discussion:
· Components of the energy security of Ukraine. Own energy sources, energy efficiency and diversification of energy supplies;
· Reform of the natural gas and electricity markets;
· Ukraine's international cooperation to reform the energy sector;
· Implementation of the standards and principles of the 2nd and 3rd energy packages.
DISCUSSION PANEL PARTICIPANTS:
Maksym Tymchenko, director-general at DTEK;
Olha Byelkova, member of the Ukrainian parliament, deputy head of the Parliamentary Committee for Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Security;
Karel Hirman, expert on energy sector at the Strategic Advisory Group for Support of Ukrainian Reforms (SAGSUR);
Serhiy Chekh, advisor to the Minister of Energy and Fuel Industry of Ukraine;
Torsten Wollert, head of theSupport Group for Ukraine, European Commission.
PANEL EXPERTS: Oleh Ustenko, executive director of the Blazer Foundation; Valentyn Zemlyanskyy, energy expert of the Centre of World Economy and International Relations of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Yuriy Korolchuk, executive director of the Centre for Energy Strategies; Anton Antonenko, vice-president of DiXi Group; Ivan Plachkov, president of the All-Ukrainian Energy Assembly; Yuriy Sakva, vice-president of the All-Ukrainian Energy Assembly; Vasyl Kotko, president of the Energy Association of Ukraine; Dmytro Rohozin, vice-president of the Energy Association of Ukraine; Krzysztof Rogulski, energy expert (Poland).
DISCUSSION PANEL MODERATED BY: Oleksandr Kharchenko, directorof the Energy Studies Centre
13:15 - 14:00 – Break and buffet lunch. Informal networking
14:00 - 15:20 – Discussion panel "UKRAINE IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD"
Questions for discussion:
· How will the elections in the USA, Germany and France affect the situation around Ukraine?
· Prospects of the Minsk process. Is there an alternative to the Minsk negotiation format and the Minsk agreements?
· Ukraine-NATO cooperation. If not membership, then what?
· Visa-free travel for Ukraine. Is there a light in the end of the tunnel?
· Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.
DISCUSSION PANEL PARTICIPANTS:
Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine;
Ryszard Czarnecki, Vice-President of the European Parliament;
Isabelle Dumont, Ambassador of the French Republic to Ukraine;
Juris Poikāns, Ambassador of the Latvian Republic to Ukraine;
Michael Emerson, Associate Senior Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) (Brussels);
Ihor Kohut, Director of the USAID RADA Programme.
PANEL EXPERTS: Markiyan Lubkivskyy, ambassador to the Republic of Croatia (2006-09), coordinator of the Justice movement; Bohdan Yaremenko, chairman of the Maydan of Foreign Affairs foundation; Oleksandr Sushko, director of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation; Mykhaylo Pashkov, co-director of foreign policy and international security programmes at the Razumkov Centre; Veronika Movchan, research director of the Kyiv Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting; Olesya Yakhno, political expert; Ihor Solovey, director of the WORLD department, LB.ua; Serhiy Sydorenko, editor of the Yevropeyska Pravda website.
DISCUSSION PANEL MODERATED BY: Dmytro Ostroushko, director of International Programmes at the Gorshenin Institute.
14:20 - 15:30 – Closing of the VI National Expert Forum. Final address by a Gorshenin Institute representative