The Coordination Center for the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region has agreed on Ukraine's bid to chair this initiative from November 2021 to November 2022.

During this period Ukraine will be responsible for determining the priority areas of cooperation between countries within the framework of the Strategy. Moreover, our country will be the first state in this post that is not a member of the EU, the press service of the Ministry for Community and Territorial Development said on Thursday.

"For us, the chairmanship of the Danube Strategy is a great responsibility and another opportunity to study the experience of our neighbors in the region. Each platform for work with the European Union accelerates Ukraine's European integration movement, and especially when it comes to cooperation on the scale of one of the largest regions of Central Europe," said Minister of Community and Territorial Development Oleksiy Chernyshev.

Now the Ministry of Regional Development, together with the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, is working on the preparation of a Program and Action Plan for Ukraine's presidency in the Strategy, including priorities and goals for the entire period of the presidency.

The Danube Strategy is a cooperation platform for the 14 countries of the Danube region. The Ukrainian part of the Strategy covers Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and Zakarpattia regions.

The states participating in the Strategy cooperate in the fields of shipping, environmental protection, in particular aquatic ecosystems, including the conservation of living water resources.