View from the outside: Southern Development Strategy Forum
The Southern Development Strategy Forum will be a historic event in Ukraine. For the first time in many years, the attention of international partners will be drawn to the problems of the Black Sea and the Azov Sea regions and the border with the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The event will bring together government officials from five ministries, governors of Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Zaporizhia regional state administrations, heads of united territorial communities, foreign and Ukrainian investors.
“The shield of the South, the energy independence of Pryazovia, a single tourist area, construction of new factories and roads, development of steppe irrigation, Skadovsk Industrial Park — all these projects will be presented at the Investment Forum Southern Development Strategy. The theme of the temporarily occupied Crimea runs through each of these projects”,
Said Valentina Samar, a journalist with the National Security Issues Program.
According to Dmytro Roy, co-founder of the Southern Development Strategy NGO and deputy chairman of the Forum’s organizing committee, this is a project that originated on the road (between Kakhovka and Henichesk) from a regular conversation about infrastructure in the region. But thanks to the joint efforts of the team, the support of local authorities and government officials, the Forum has reached the international level. The presence of the President of Ukraine and the Prime Minister is planned at the event.
“Initially, the Forum was supported by USAID and the US Embassy, and not only in Kyiv. And then we started working with each deputy minister, head of regional councils, governors of state administrations, ministers and the President’s Office. Today we already know that the President will come to the Forum. Other top officials of the state will also arrive. This all started from the idea of 3-4 people, and today it is a big team. And this project is organized by four regions, four different regions’ state administrations and very different communities …”
Dmytro Roy, Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Forum
The implementation of the Forum’s ideas became real thanks to the active participation of the governors of the Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions. Prior to the announcement of the Forum, the governors of these three regional state administrations decided to unite efforts to develop the tourism sector of the Prychornomoria region, build a common infrastructure through irrigation, establish quality transportation, and build housing for Ukrainians who were forced to leave the temporarily occupied Crimea.
“We have now synchronized our programs for cooperation in the field of tourism and irrigation. Also, we discussed questions of ecological safety, cooperation on the Tiligul estuary, questions of harmful emissions, quality of drinking water“, —
Vitalii Kim, the governor of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration
The governor of Kherson Regional State Administration Serhii Kozyr is convinced that this is the first time in Ukraine that the Forum presents to the international and Ukrainian community projects of social and economic development of the South.
“First, the Forum is aimed at the development of territorial communities. In fact, the heads of UTC will present the needs of their residents at the Forum, attract funds and investors for the maximum development of their communities”, —
Serhii Kozyr, the governor of Kherson Regional State Administration
The organizers of the event note that for many years in the minds of many Ukrainians the South was the road to Crimea. That is why they want to work together to change the established vision of the South. Today, thanks to international investments, the region has every opportunity to become self-sufficient and better developed than the temporarily occupied and militarized Crimea.
That is why the Southern Development Strategy Forum aims not only to implement the Black Sea and Azov development projects but also to strengthen the region’s position as a strong, stable platform in the country. The forum will really create a showcase that has been awaited not only by Ukrainians living in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea but also by residents of the southern regions. Many local communities simply do not have enough funds to implement all projects.
“We hope that a lot of investors will come to this Forum, people who will even be able to help in the development of our territorial community. 168 heads of UTC, who have been elected not for the first time, are also planned to arrive. Their experience can be useful to us as well. That is, we expect investment, large-scale construction, we expect the development of our community”, —
Olexander Tulupov, Mayor of Henichesk
According to Pavlo Yarmiy, head of the Regional Development Agency of Tavriya UTC, the main problem in the region’s development is not even a lack of money. The problem is the lack of people who are able to implement serious projects. Therefore, the Southern Development Strategy Forum is a great driver of this process today.
“Unfortunately, there are currently very few people in the Kherson region, who can change the vision of the residents of the region, this is the first issue. And the second one – there must be experts who will work honestly on those projects … When there will be, so to speak, international technical assistance: American companies, British, French, no one else will interfere. This is the key issue. It is even strategically important!“
Pavlo Yarmiy, Head of the Regional Development Agency of Tavriya UTC
Clearly, Russian aggression or subversion in the occupied Crimea creates constant pressure on the residents of the southern regions. That is why the implementation of the Forum projects will reduce risk and create a stable social and economic development of the region.