A strong economy for a real Ukraine
Feb 25, 2009 at 16:50 | Comments: 2Yuliya Melnyk Special to Kyiv Post
There are many minor steps that can be made to contribute to that goal. One of them is diversification of traditional business activities in Donetsk region, for example, that has historically been the region of mining and heavy industry.
Anatoliy Blyznyuk, head of Donetsk regional council, told the Kyiv Post he no longer wants the industrial Donbass region to be considered only as a land with rich natural resources.
“We are going to solve environmental issues, develop tourism and other industries relatively new for the Donetsk region. We have many places of interest in our region, for example, Sontsovka, where [composer] Sergey Prokofiev was born,” he said.
Education is another area where much change is needed. Although the country has a high ration of people with university degrees, “Ukrainian students are taught in a vertical system designed for a planned economy. They are not trained for the real economy,” said Ralph Judah, senior partner of Monitor Group, a company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The event was organized by The Ukrainian Foundation for Effective Governance, a think tank funded by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov. Akhmetov has used his wealth and influence to hire, among others, Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell, as members of the foundations. She chairs the foundation, which organizes events aimed at introducing common western practices such as public debates on laws in order to establish a more harmonious economic development.
Campbell said that it is common in the United States and Canada to invite reputable experts before a new law has been created or any other government decisions are made. “In Ukraine it is not the case. Our foundation established this tradition and we invite leading Ukrainian and international experts,” Campbell said.
The first debate organized by the foundation was held in Kyiv this February. See details online at: www.debaty.org.