The event was solemnly opened by Remi Duflot, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, who in his opening speech stressed on the significance of intermunicipal partnership for development:

“After the U-LEAD exchanges of the past two years I’m very happy to see that these forums have become a well-established platform for international experts’ exchange on decentralisation with a focus on Ukraine’s decentralisation reform. One year ago the forum took place at the symbolic and historical moment with the local elections just have taken place in the new administrative-territorial framework. After that success, this year we must shift our focus from making the reform happen to making the reform work. For it to succeed, we have to address vigorously the very practical issue that is also a key success factor of decentralisation and is named local development.”

Bastian Veigel, GIZ Programme Director of U-LEAD with Europe, greeted the participants on the occasion of the Local Self-Government's Day and  outlined:

“At this very conference we would like to focus on the importance of investment projects of social-economical development of municipalities. At the same time we would also like to stress that the local development projects must be prepared in the constant dialogue with citizens. In recent month, U-LEAD with Europe was intensively working with municipalities in the preparation of local development projects of regional significance. And the overarching topic of today's and tomorrow's International Expert Exchange is partnerships between municipalities. Today we are proudly presenting a broad range of opportunities to discuss.”

Minister for Communities and Territories Development Oleksii Chernyshov thanked U-LEAD with Europe for the constant expert, technical and financial support that Ukraine receives during the implementation of one of the most important reforms -  the reform of local self-government, and noted:

“We often hear that municipalities do not have the capacity to implement complex infrastructure projects. Indeed, it is not always possible to pull everything off on your own, but that is why there are friends and partners. And together we can move mountains! Most of the achievements we will discuss today are the results of the effective cooperation between the central government, the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada, local self-government and reliable international partners.”