Head of the President's Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak called on the heads of regions and communities to actively work on developing international ties, concluding twinning and partnerships with regions of European countries and attracting foreign investment.

During his speech at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Yermak said such work is already underway at the local level.

"Our regions and communities establish partnerships all over the world. Thus, Kyiv region cooperates with the American states of Washington and Utah and with the French region of Ile-de-France. Chernihiv region also cooperates with it, as well as with German federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. There is an agreement on cooperation with the American state of Minnesota and the British county of Kent. Sumy and Kharkiv regions have specific results of cooperation with the regions of Germany, France, and the United States. Cherkasy, Rivne, and Luhansk regions also actively cooperate with the United States. Dnipropetrovsk region and its communities receive a lot of assistance from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Odesa region works with the German city of Bremen and is preparing agreements with the American state of Maryland, the Italian region of Veneto, the French regions of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur and Occitania. A number of other regions have already achieved or such agreements, or in the process," he said.

In addition, Yermak said, cooperation between cities is developing. Thus, with the United States alone, at the city level, 31 twinning agreements have been concluded in the entire history of Ukrainian-American relations, and cooperation or partnerships on individual industry issues have been established with another 36 U.S. cities. Of these twinning and partnerships, some 26 were concluded after the start of a full-scale war.

"But this is not enough. We need to dramatically increase these efforts. Each region and each city must work to strengthen international ties. We need not just signed documents, but tangible results of partnership. I urge you to be active and proactive, look for opportunities to attract long-term foreign investment, look despite the war. Special focus is on European integration. Our task is to make the political, business, cultural, educational and other spaces of the Ukrainian and European regions common. This also applies to infrastructure projects and support for our veterans. Develop detailed annual plans for interaction at all levels, and involve not only officials, but also representatives of business, culture, science, media, public activists and veterans of your regions. We are doing a common thing, which means that neither hands nor brains should be superfluous," he said. Yermak called on local authorities to decide and negotiate specific agreements with countries such as the United States, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Japan, Scandinavian countries and other European countries by the end of the year, and also to pay attention to the countries of the Global South.

"Those who have already concluded such agreements – begin ongoing consultations at all levels and in all areas. The top topics in this are energy, localization of production and everything related to improving the lives of our people," Yermak said.