Shared Their Vision on

How to Reach a Better

Future for Ukraine

Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program (CUPP) held a conference in Ottawa last week that resulted in recommendations for the Ukrainian government

By Roman Tashleetsky,

Toronto-Ottawa

On October 16-18, the Government Conference Center in downtown Ottawa hosted dozens of students from Ukraine, participants (interns) and alumni of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program (CUPP), as well as guest speakers represented by journalists, scholars, and politicians. They all gathered to participate in the CUPP White Paper Committee – a workshop that concluded a series of four Model Ukraine conferences which took place in Washington DC, Ottawa, Oxford, and Kyiv in 2010-2012. The goal of the workshop was to elaborate and finalize recommendations for Ukrainian authorities in the sphere of education, mass media, the rule of law/ judiciary and civics.

It should be noted that this time the conference, which started as a small gathering of CUPP alumni in Washington DC in 2010, welcomed the biggest number of participants. The Old Train Station-Union Station in Ottawa, which now houses the Government Conference Center, could hardly accommodate numerous participants from all over the world: Kyiv, London, Odesa, Irkutsk, Winnipeg and over twenty other cities which were represented during the workshop. As a result, this diverse group fueled vigorous and productive debates after every workshop presentation. It was both interesting and encouraging to observe how undergraduates from Ukraine could equally discuss important issues that are important for Ukraine with distinguished university professors, representatives of Ukrainian and Canadian governments, and famous journalists. Obviously, everyone was intellectually enriched in the process.

During the three days of the conference, the work of the committee was organized in the following way: a panel of several speakers delivered their presentations on a certain subject, which was followed by a discussion with the audience. After that all participants joined one of the four break out groups to which they were assigned. Based on the presentations and deliberations these groups developed recommendations which would contribute to the final set of resolutions.

Certainly, a month before the ultimate Ukraine-EU summit in Vilnius, where the odds are that Ukraine will sign the association agreement with the European Union, all issues were considered through the prism of Ukraine’s future as a part of European civilization. In particular, a resolution on education urged controlling the proper implementation of the Bologna process in Ukrainian universities, fighting corruption (cases like that of Petro Melnyk, the internationally wanted former president of the National University of the State Tax Service of Ukraine), simplifying the process of recognition of degrees received in prominent world universities, etc. Generally, the conference participants seemed to be unanimous in their support of the European aspirations of Ukraine, since everyone understands that there is no alternative to the European choice. As James Huntwork, an attorney from Phoenix, put it, “Today it is easier for Ukraine to enter the Customs Union with Russia because they accept Ukraine as is, without reforms. It’s more difficult to sign the Association Agreement with the EU. However, it will have a positive impact on Ukraine’s economy and other spheres of life.” In other words, the Association Agreement is a chance for Ukraine to improve itself and become competitive with other developed countries, while ties with the Customs Union mean stagnation with further aggravation of existing problems in Ukraine.

The mass media panel on day two was one of the most engaging. It started with a presentation of a book by Serhiy Leshchenko from Ukraine’s most popular internet news resource Ukrainska Pravda. His book is an investigation of the case of Pavlo Lazarenko, one of the most influential former Ukrainian prime ministers, who was imprisoned in the US for money laundering. After the presentation Serhiy shared his experience of working for an independent newspaper. His workplace is very symbolic for all Ukrainian journalism, since it was founded by Georgiy Gongadze, who was found beheaded in 2000, allegedly according to the instruction of the then president Kuchma. Gongadze became a symbol of a free and unbiased journalist who is very annoying for corrupt authorities. Leshchenko also answered questions about his newspaper’s business model of a self-sustained news resource: today Ukrainska Pravda can rely on their advertisement budget, which makes them independent. However, he pointed out, they started over ten years ago, when the niche of internet mass media just started developing. Today it would require considerable funds to start from scratch and maintain an independent news resource like theirs.

The last day of the conference consisted mostly of framing the concluding resolutions of the White Paper Committee. Dozens of issues were systemized into smaller sections and submitted to responsible CUPP students who will prepare the final document which will be sent to the governmental institutions in Ukraine, Canada, and the EU. Ihor Bardyn, the CUPP director and organizer of the conference, liked the way the conference advanced and is content with its accomplishments. According to Bardyn, even if the government disregards the recommendations of the committee (which often happens to resolutions of many similar think tanks), the conference already reached the important goal of educating everyone who participated in it and who will get familiarized with its resolutions. Ihor Bardyn also shared his plans to continue organizing similar conferences to the benefit of the next generation of Ukrainians who will manage the country in the near future.

PHOTO

1 - L. to R.: Executive Director CUPP Ihor Bardyn, Former Canadian Ambassador in Ukraine Derek Fraser, CUPP alumni Stacy Tsarkova, Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada Vadym Prystajko

2 - Government Conference Center hosts CUPP Conference