Over the last several years, Ukraine has made a significant progress in the development of its mountain territories. Cooperation with most countries in the Carpathian region has become more substantial. But we still must resume our cooperation with Hungary, and it’s high time to do this.

This statement was made by First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine Vyacheslav Nehoda during his meeting with representatives of the Embassy of Hungary and the Ukrainian Association of Rayon and Oblast Councils.

“Yesterday in Poland, four countries signed the Declaration on the preparation of a new macro-regional EU strategy for the development of the Carpathian region of Ukraine, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. On 6 September, the Parliament of Ukraine is due to ratify the Agreement between the EU and Hungary on funding the Danube transnational program, which would enable us to implement joint projects under the Danube Strategy. It means that the activation of our relations in cross-border and border cooperation is overdue”, said Vyacheslav Nehoda addressing the representatives of the Embassy of Hungary.

The First Deputy Minister of Regional Development proposed to resume the work of the Ukrainian-Hungarian inter-governmental mixed commission for cross-border and border cooperation which was last convened in 2013.

“We must resume the work of this Commission and schedule meetings for 2018-2019. I am the chairman of the Commission from the Ukrainian side, and I can confirm that we are ready for joint actions. I hope that the Government of Hungary will appoint a co-chairperson from your country and we will agree the date of the next meeting”, said Vyacheslav Nehoda.

He also pointed out that a working group operates in Ukraine which was instructed by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to analyse the issues of the mountain territories. Its members are representatives of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers, MinRegion, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Agrarian Policy, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Healthcare Ministry, state oblast administrations and oblast councils (Zakarpattya, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Chernivtsi Oblasts), all-Ukrainian associations of local self-government bodies as well as members of Parliament.

“Experts from your country have an opportunity to join this group. Also, we decided that the activities of this working group shall be published on a dedicated webpage which we are going to set up with the support of the Ukrainian Association of Rayon and Oblast Councils and our international partners. I hope that Hungary will want to participate in the update of this webpage which can become our joint information platform for the Carpathian region countries in the area of the development of mountain territories”, said Vyacheslav Nehoda.

Erno Keshken, Ambassador of Hungary to Ukraine, supported the proposal to resume cooperation between Ukraine and Hungary in the development of mountain territories and acknowledged its importance. He also expressed his readiness to activate the dialogue on this issue in the Hungarian government.

“I hope that we will be able to resume the work of the Ukrainian-Hungarian inter-governmental commission on cross-border and border cooperation soon. Our countries are now cooperating in the development of the joint infrastructure: we are building motorways, a border checkpoint etc. We have many projects, and they are making progress. I hope that this cooperation will be accelerated thanks to the work of the inter-governmental commissipon”, said Erno Keshken.