On November 22-23, 2019, the VIII Global Ukrainians Forum "New digital strategies for the sustainable development of Ukrainian communities" took place in Kyiv. The Global Ukraine Foundation has been the initiator and main organizer of the Forum since 2015. Partners of the VIII Global Ukrainians Forum were the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, the U-Lead with Europe program, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the Regional Development Agency of the Poltava Region, the Ukrainian Academy of Leadership, the TechUkraine platform, and the BusinessWOMAN Magazine, companies Synergy.Network and Hacken, and others.
The purpose of the VIII Global Ukrainians Forum is to announce the launch of the Global Ukraine mobile application (iOS, Android & web). Global Ukraine is a unique communication platform that systematically develops a network of highly educated Ukrainian expats who are visionaries of the global world, help scale social projects of Ukrainian communities and communities in the world, and believe in the global expansion of Ukrainian creative brands.
At the opening of the Forum, foreign politicians and diplomats, as well as representatives of the Ukrainian government, gave welcoming speeches: Mikheil Saakashvili, Third President of Georgia (2004-2013), Christian Leon Tsurcanu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to Ukraine, Kaimo Kuusk, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to Ukraine, Yasin Ayari, People's Deputy, National Assembly of Tunisia, Maria Mezentseva, People's Deputy of Ukraine, Head of Inter-factional Association "World Ukraine". First Deputy Minister of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, Mr. Dmytro Zhivytskyi, welcomed the participants with a video speech.
Among the speakers at the Forum were leaders of the Global Ukrainians network from different countries, representatives of state institutions and local self-government bodies, representatives of international organizations in Ukraine (EU Representation in Ukraine, U-Lead Programs with Europe, UNDP, DOBRE), employees of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, business representatives, etc.
The founder of the Global Ukraine Foundation, Dr. Violeta Moskalu, presented the functionality of the unique Global Ukraine application (developed using the new #SmartNation technology), which opens up new formats of cooperation with progressive and effective leaders of the Ukrainian diaspora in the world, for a more systematic and effective promotion of Ukraine's image in the world. She also said that the Global Ukraine foundation plans to create mechanisms for the return of the intellectual and financial capital of Ukrainian expats to Ukraine, using blockchain technology and smart contracts.
Representatives of the Ukrainian Academy of Leadership talked about the launch of an extremely important crowdsourcing project #UndiscoveredUkraine, with the aim of actively promoting Ukrainian brands that will be able to travel the world more intensively, and those Ukrainian pearls for which tourists should come to Ukraine.
Natalia Veremeyeva, Director of the TechUkraine Program Office, presented a joint initiative by TechUkraine and Global Ukraine - Global Tech Ukrainians, which involves the development of a global network of mentors for Ukrainian startups.
Foreign diplomats and politicians shared positive practices of economic and political involvement of expats and labor migrants. The Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Romania to Ukraine, Christian Leon Tsurcanu, said that the authorities "must listen and hear the voice of migrants, they know very well what needs to be done to more actively involve the diaspora." It was interesting to learn that during the last presidential elections in Romania, almost 1 million voters voted abroad at 835 polling stations.
Mr. Yassin Ayari, People's Deputy of the National Assembly of Tunisia (one of the 18 people's deputies who represent Tunisian citizens living abroad), said that "the diaspora played a huge role during the Arab Spring in Tunisia, and later, when the diaspora raised the question of representation - no one dared to object; now the diaspora's right to representation is enshrined in the Tunisian Constitution »
Pavlo Sheremeta, the former Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, emphasized that "the Global Ukrainians network platform has certain characteristics of a "blue ocean", in terms of a large number of unexplored opportunities for the global expansion of Ukrainian creative industries."
During the second day of the Forum, a strategic session was held to develop a strategy and roadmap for 2020. The participants of the strategic session determined that in a country with a population of almost 40 million people, there is now a complete lack of an ecosystem of the culture of happiness, and according to the UN, Ukraine ranks 133rd out of 156 countries in the World Happiness Report 2019 and the last place among European countries. A goal that can become a goal for Global Ukrainians - for Ukraine to find itself in the Top 20 happiest countries in the world.
The main conclusions and recommendations of the Forum concern:
1.The necessity of developing the interactive platform Global Ukraine (iOS, Andorid, web), where Ukrainian leaders, communities and companies can scale their ideas and social projects, globalize Ukrainian creative and creative brands, attract intellectual and financial resources of the diaspora for local development projects in Ukraine, and also for a more systematic and effective interaction between all diaspora communities and the state.
2. Correct communication regarding legislative initiatives related to "ensuring constitutional rights of Ukrainian citizens abroad" and separate work in the direction of "granting Ukrainian citizenship to ethnic Ukrainians in the diaspora".
3. Develop a National Reintegration Policy, which should include Strategies, Mechanisms and Tools for (remote) attraction of intellectual and financial capital of Ukrainian migrants to Ukraine, and an Action Plan that will contain goals, measures and a responsible state institution for the implementation of the Strategy.
250 participants from 18 countries took part in the Forum: Austria, France, Israel, Spain, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Estonia, Georgia, Tunisia, Ukraine, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Russia, as well as from different regions of Ukraine.
Photo album of the Global Ukrainians Forum : shorturl.at/afpt2.
