Mini conferences for regional politicians and young leaders to be held at the 13th YES Annual Meeting

75 representatives of regional executive authorities, regional council members and civil activists will take part in a mini conference in the framework of the 13^th Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting.

The new discussion format is a joint project of YES and the Ukrainian School of Political Studies (USPS). Its participants, selected in a contest, represent all regions of Ukraine. Among them, there are 41 members of regional councils, 26 representatives of regional executive bodies and 8 regional activists. The average age of the project participants is 31 years old.

During the mini conference that will be held in parallel with the plenary sessions of the 13^th YES Annual Meeting, the participants will have an opportunity to discuss with the speakers of the Yalta forum key issues of global and local level, best international practices in the fields of public policies, state government and civil activism.

Regional politicians, civil servants and activists in regions play a major role in the process of reforming Ukraine: in particular, in implementation of the government’s efforts for decentralization of the governance system and extending the powers of regional communities and regional administrations. The participation of young regional leaders in the work of the Yalta forum will let them get a direct access to the international political and governing experience, improve their professional level in the public sphere governance on the regional level and build a national and international network of business contacts. This initiative is also intended to contribute to the success of the decentralization reform in Ukraine, deepening of the European integration processes and improving the level of interaction between various regions of the country.

Also, a section for young leaders will be working traditionally in the framework of the Yalta Meeting. Since 2012, YES has been selecting for participation in the annual forum 100 students and young professionals, including scholarship holders of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation’s youth educational programs Zavtra.ua and WorldWideStudies. The selection criteria include academic excellence, leadership potential and active involvement in the activity of communities. The program of the section includes meetings of young leaders with the forum speakers and guests, reflecting on discussion panels of the plenary sessions. More than 400 people have taken part in the work of the section since it was launched.

As previously reported, the 13^th Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting, entitled “World, Europe, Ukraine: Storms of Changes”, organized by the YES civil platform in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, will take place in Kyiv on September 15 through 17. The plenary sessions and special sections of the forum will take place at the “Mystetsky Arsenal” National Culture and Museum Complex. More than 350 prominent politicians, diplomats, businessmen, civil activists and experts from 20 countries of the world will take part in the work of the forum. The participants of the YES Annual Meeting will discuss topical geopolitical, economic and social processes underlying drastic changes as well as the challenges that Europe and the world are facing and that impact their future.

Yalta European Strategy (YES) is the largest social institution of public diplomacy in Eastern Europe, providing an open and equal dialogue on global issues affecting the European Union, Ukraine, Russia and other countries. This non-partisan organisation was established in 2004 by the Ukrainian businessman and public figure Victor Pinchuk.

The YES Annual Meetings have become an open platform to discuss and look for new ideas and views on paths to European, Ukrainian and global development. These meetings bring together over 350 politicians, diplomats, statesmen, journalists, analysts and business leaders from more than 20 countries. The dialogue on global challenges broadens the vision on the situation inside Ukraine and the prospects for the country’s development in the modern world and puts Ukraine on the international map.

The world's top opinion leaders present their visions of current and future trends which impact all spheres of life of society. The plenary sessions were opened by the Presidents of Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Turkey and other countries. Among the speakers of the Yalta meetings were Kofi Annan, Carl Bildt, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Richard Branson, James Wolfensohn, Newt Gringrich, Herman Gref, Arkadiy Dvorkovich, Robert Zoelick, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Paul Krugman, Alexei Kudrin, Leonid Kuchma, Juri Milner, Condoleezza Rice, Larry Summers, Radosław Sikorski, Javier Solana, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Shashi Tharoor, Strobe Talbott, Niall Ferguson, Vladimir Filat, Joschka Fischer, Štefan Füle, Gerhard Schröder, Muhammad Yunus and others.

Official site: www.yes-ukraine.org

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation is an international, private, non-partisan, philanthropic foundation based in Ukraine. The Foundation was established in 2006 by businessman and public figure Victor Pinchuk. It’s goal is to empower future generations to become the change makers of tomorrow. To achieve this goal, a variety of projects are deeloped, partnerships in Ukraine and worldwide are build. There are three main areas the Foundation invests:

The projects of the foundation include the largest private scholarship program in Ukraine Zavtra.UA, the international scholarship program for Ukrainian students WorldWideStudies, public lectures with international leaders for Ukrainian students and the creation of the Kyiv School of Economics; a network of modern neonatal centres Cradles of Hope throughout Ukraine; the largest and most dynamic contemporary art centre in Central and Eastern Europe PinchukArtCentre – free of admission and with over 2.2 million visitors as of today – with the biannual global prize Future Generation Art Prize for artists up to the age of 35 and biannual PinchukArtCentre Prize for young Ukrainian artists; the Davos Philanthropic Roundtable and the Davos Ukrainian Lunch organized annually at the occasion of the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos. The Victor Pinchuk Foundationis a member of the European Foundations and Ukrainian Grantmakers Forum, supports the Clinton Global Initiative, Brookings Institute, the Peres Center for Peace, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and other non-governmental organizations.

Official site: www.pinchukfund.org

The 13th Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting will be streamed live atyes-ukraine.org as well as web-sites of the Media Partners in English and Ukrainian.

The official Twitter of the 13^th YES Annual Meeting is @yes_ukraine, and participants and followers can include the hash tag: #YESUkraine2016

SPECIAL PARTNER of 13th Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting:
METINVEST

PARTNERS: ARAWAK ENERGY
ALFA-BANK (UKRAINE)
DCH GROUP
THE INTERNATIONAL RENAISSANCE FOUNDATION
MOBILE OPERATOR LIFECELL

MEDIA PARTNERS OF 13TH YALTA EUROPEAN STRATEGY ANNUAL MEETING:
ICTV
UKRAINSKA PRAVDA
NOVOE VREMYA STRANY (NV.UA)
RADIO ERA
THE KYIV POST

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