On March 16, during the Cities Forum 2023 in Turin, Italy, the Ukrainian delegation of Cities 4 Cities | United 4 Ukraine met with Elisa Ferreira, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms of the European Commission, who is responsible for urban governance and regional policy of the European Union. During the conversation, Ms Ferreira expressed full support for the project team in establishing partnerships between Ukrainian and EU municipalities.

During her speech, Ms Ferreira also mentioned the Ukrainian delegation and announced the start of the Ukrainian Bauhaus Project designed to help Ukrainian municipalities in their recovery.

“The European Union pledged to participate in the recovery of Ukraine according to the best European principles, which are in line with the principles of the European Bauhaus. A training programme has already been launched so that Ukrainian municipalities can learn more about these principles. Furthermore, the EU-funded Phoenix project is to provide training for Ukrainian municipalities and EUR 7 million for the implementation of joint projects between Ukrainian and European municipalities,” said Marta Suprun, International Cooperation Manager of Cities 4 Cities | United 4 Ukraine. “Ukrainian municipalities need to monitor the development of these programmes, join European networks and seek European partners. It is also important to strengthen their capacity by involving project managers in the municipal teams.”

At the forum, the Ukrainian delegation established contact with Italian partners, including the Association of Italian Cities.

“We managed to secure the support of the Association of Italian Cities, which expressed its readiness to co-organise the Italy-Ukraine Municipal Partnership Forum as early as this year. This level of support highlights an increasing number of new partnerships between Ukraine and Europe,” said Svitlana Blinova, Coordinator of Cities 4 Cities | United 4 Ukraine, head of international programmes of the City Institute, Lviv.

Working meetings between the Cities 4 Cities | United 4 Ukraine and the Association are scheduled for the next week. During this time, the parties will discuss the dates and format of the Forum.

Cities 4 Cities | United 4 Ukraine unites the initiatives that partnered up in September 2022. Cities 4 Cities was founded by the city of Sindelfingen, Germany, under the auspices of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. United 4 Ukraine was launched by SALAR International and the city of Lviv, Ukraine, with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The strategic partners of the initiative are the Association of Ukrainian Cities and the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities.