In the Ministry for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine (hereafter – MTOT) an introductory seminar was held for the members of the Public Council under the Ministry on the topic: “MTOT Activity: Mission, Strategy, Prospects for Public Relations”.

Greeting the seminar participants, Oleksandr Levchenko Advisor to the Minister, Ambassador of Ukraine to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina 2010-2017, outlined the main tasks entrusted to him by MTOT and the main principles of peaceful reintegration of Donbas, spoke on the possibility and the indicative plan of the peacekeeping UN mission in eastern Ukraine, as well as Croatia’s experience on this issue.

During the seminar, department executives presented the directions of MTOT activity, highlighted a number of issues regarding provisions of the Ministry, its mandate, structure, as well as tasks and achievements for 2.5 years of existence.

Members of the Public Council had the opportunity to communicate directly with each of the speakers: Iryna Kalupaha, Head of Department for IDPs and Humanitarian Cooperation, Serhiy Mokrenyuk, Head of Department for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, Olena Panamarchuk, Head of Department of Administrative and Organizational Activities; Ihor Gryb, Head of Department on Issues of Persons Deprived of Personal Freedom, Alla Lutsyuk, Head of Personnel Department, Olena Krasko, Chief of Sector of Interaction with the Media and Public, Vladyslav Ragimov, leading expert on prevention and detection of corruption, Andrii Lyfenko, chief specialist of Department of the Eastern Regions, Pavlo Kulyk, chief specialist of Conflict and Post-conflict Department  and other specialists of the Ministry.

The participants learned about MTOT projects aimed at reintegration of internally displaced persons and the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and in the east of Ukraine, enforcement of human rights, economic restoration and peace building in areas that were adversely affected by the armed conflict and/or temporary occupation, etc., which require development, as well as those already under consideration by the Government.

Also, the members of the Public Council were introduced to the Portal of Economic and Social Recovery of Donbas, which was initiated and developed by MTOT in the form of an open on-line platform for continuous monitoring of the consequences of the conflict, recovery performance and quality of project implementation.

At the end of the seminar, Deputy Minister George Tuka assured all those present that the Ministry will continue to promote cooperation with the public who cares for internally displaced persons, the return and reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, as well as assistance to citizens of Ukraine who suffered as a result of the conflict.

“I hope that meaningful information cases of seminar speakers will be taken into account by the Public Council and will be used in further constructive cooperation with the Ministry”, – said George Tuka.