Council signs economic partnership agreement with Ukraine region

Cornwall Council has signed an agreement with a region of Ukraine to increase economic ties.

The Zakarpattia Oblast region is in the south west corner of Ukraine and shares borders with four EU countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania.

The agreement covers a range of areas for cooperation including the economy, industry, agriculture, transport, trade, education including medicine, science and technology, healthcare and humanities, language and culture.

Sophie Hosking, Cornwall Council strategic director for neighbourhoods, said: “This is one of a series of partnerships that are being forged across the United Kingdom and beyond to strengthen ties in areas such as language, culture, industry and education, to help communities and grow the local economy.

“We are delighted to have signed the formal agreement between our two regions and yesterday’s signing highlighted many shared areas that we can learn from each other – from agriculture, tourism, china clay to wine-production – and some of the things the Zakarpattia region are interested in learning from our experiences of waste disposal, recycling and recovery.

“With approximately 1,000 Ukranians currently settled in Cornwall, this agreement highlights underlines our commitment to developing the bonds we share and improving the lives of all our residents.”

Myroslav Biletskyy, the head of Zakarpattia administrative state, who signed the memorandum on behalf of the Zakarpattia region, added: “We are honoured to be part of this historic moment, both for Zakarpattia and in Cornwall, and we sincerely hope that today’s meeting marks the beginning of a fruitful partnership.”