They talked with the prime minister, had coffee with the burgomasters they knew

The 10th anniversary European Summit of Cities and Regions ended in the Belgian town of Monsey. The Ruthenia team has already been traditionally invited to it by our good friends and partners. We talked with many mayors of European cities a month ago at the Global European Forum. There, they also met the Portuguese governor Vashku Cour-deiro, who presided over this summit. In addition, we hoped for short meetings with the former and current prime ministers of Belgium, with whom the Ruthenian team has been actively cooperating for a long time. By the way, ex-prime minister Elio di Rupo currently works as the burgomaster of the host city of Mons, so he was a central figure at the Summit as host. Nevertheless, he found a few minutes for us on the sidelines of the event. There we also shot the current head of the Belgian government, Alexander de Croo. Unfortunately, it is rarely possible to discuss anything at such meetings, but it is possible to arrange a call and a meeting in a more relaxed atmosphere.

The two mayors from Poland I managed to sit down with in a friendly way. After all, we have known Oleksandra Dulkevych from Gdańsk for a long time. She is a great friend of Ukraine, and her city has greatly benefited our grain export, in particular.

Ukraine was also present at the summit. Moreover, our country had a separate discussion platform. The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Tetyana Yehorova-Lutsenko, outlined three important issues for Ukraine to discuss at the forum – European integration, decentralization and, of course, the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. Many regional European leaders are already ready to negotiate and sign direct agreements on reconstruction assistance with individual Ukrainian regions. But in general, the summit once again gave an opportunity to make sure that Ukraine is waiting for Europe, we will not be abandoned. So the majestic ODA of joy, which is the unofficial anthem of the EU, also sounded for our warring country