Gunther Adler, State Secretary at the Federal Building Ministry, is currently visiting Ukraine with a government delegation. Talks on 9 and 10 June with Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Deputy Prime Minister Hennadiy Zubko and Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko are centred around joint cooperation on urban development. A key topic of these talks is energy efficiency in municipal heat supply, particularly in residential buildings. In Kyiv, State Secretary Adler welcomed Ukraine's efforts to decentralise the country and strengthen the municipal level: "Providing cities with better financial resources in particular could help permanently strengthen overall economic and societal development in Ukraine."
During the discussion with Deputy Prime Minister Zubko, State Secretary Adler offered to support Ukraine in establishing a system for sustainable urban development and corresponding qualifications for employees. "We had to face similar challenges in the period after 1989 when transforming former East Germany." We would be happy to organise an exchange of experience at national and municipal level on this topic. Ukraine needs strong and competent municipalities now more than ever.
Adler emphasised the importance of strong municipal umbrella associations during talks with Head of Kyiv City State Administration and Mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko. "National urban development policy as a joint initiative of the Federation, Länder and municipalities demonstrates that strong umbrella associations can make an important contribution to the development of cities." State Secretary Adler stressed that more intensive cooperation between Germany and Ukraine, also at this level, could greatly enhance urban development and thus help with achieving global targets.
Gunther Adler : "I would like to highlight the great progress made by the 'Turning Subsidies into Investments' initiative which aims to increase energy efficiency in municipal heat supply." The concept of Turning Subsidies into Investments was developed by the BMUB and Ukrainian government. The concept was designed to lower gas consumption thus reducing energy related subsidies and social transfers, which are a substantial factor in Ukraine's high budget and current account deficit. In January 2016 Deputy Prime Minister Zubko promised to create a framework by the end of the year for financing energy efficiency measures.
On 22 March 2016, Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks and Deputy Prime Minister Hennadiy Zubko signed a joint declaration of intent on cooperation in the field of urban development between Ukraine and Germany which laid the foundation for future cooperation. Germany and Ukraine are now intensifying the planned exchange of experience, mutual information and cooperation.