With this title, it tells us about our city on the pages of the Business Ukraine magazine. Michael Druckman, the Resident Country Director for Ukraine at the International Republican Institute, gave an interview for the special issue about Mykolaiv.

“Mykolaiv was once best known for the city’s vast shipyards that churned out warships from the days of the tsars to the fall of the USSR in 1991. Like many industrial centers, Mykolaiv struggled to find its feet in the immediate aftermath of the Soviet collapse, but today it is earning a reputation as a scrappy and forward-looking city trying to turn things around. Mykolaiv’s young new leadership, led by Mayor Senkevych, is searching for a new identity as an economic incubator in Ukraine’s Black Sea region. Mayor Senkevych and the local authority move to implement a plan to make the city more transparent and responsive to citizens. 

The city has slowly but steadily risen in a city services index and in a transparency index for the past two years, with both the mayor and city council increasing their favorability ratings. The creation of a Mykolaiv Development Agency (MDA) is another way Mykolaiv is increasing its attractiveness to investors and building a reputation as an effective partner. The city also continues to recruit motivated public administration volunteers from across Ukraine. There is evidence that these initial measures are starting to bear fruit.

Many observers believe developments in Mykolaiv will have major implications for the wider reform process across Ukraine. With the city in the midst of an ambitious reform agenda set against the backdrop of a complex and challenging regional political environment, Mykolaiv’s progress is a key test for Ukraine’s ability to achieve a genuine national transformation.” 

Full interview you can find on the pages of June issue of the Business Ukraine by the link: https://issuu.com/businessukrainemagazine/docs/june