Gennadiy Zubko, former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and a graduate of kmbs told the participants about how decentralization affects the recovery and development of Ukraine.

According to Mr. Gennadiy, the successful decentralization reform helped the country survive the first weeks of a full-scale war. Assistance to TRO, organization of volunteers, and military logistics became possible thanks to the local self-government, which has become much more independent over the previous five years. Until 2014, this would hardly have been possible because the country continued to live in the Soviet system of local management. Decisions were made at the top, and only after that were funds allocated, and on the ground, they waited for instructions from the center. "But no one in the Cabinet of Ministers is smarter than the people on the ground," Mr. Gennadiy is confident.

Decentralization reform, in his opinion, is precisely about efficiency and sustainability. Ukraine already has a European management system on the ground: we seek to delegate authority, which means concentrating it on the one hand. Instead, the Russians instantly canceled decentralization in the occupied territories and tried to return to Soviet practices of managing people who had nothing and could not influence their lives.

Decentralization is also important because it improves the quality of local services and introduces any reforms there. For example, it is impossible to implement education reform from the center - the ministry needs to work together with local self-government with the head of the community. And the head of the community is the one who is elected by the people and who maintains contact with local businesses.

At the meeting, Mr. Gennadiy also spoke about what is essential for companies to know about decentralization. In particular, about the different types of taxes, the business pays and how to understand where to invest. Today, the company can choose a community with better starting conditions and more "hungry" for investments. "I dream of a European approach when communities compete for business," Mr. Gennadiy shared with the audience. - And they create conditions in which it would be convenient for businesses to work." Now Ukraine is moving in precisely this direction - to forming industrial parks, where companies could invest money and quickly make a profit.

Decentralization creates many new prospects for business and is essential for post-war development. "The main question now is how to make a recovery help us integrate into the EU," says Mr. Gennadiy. And he believes that we can become a positive example for many countries.