In Zakarpattia region, work continues on the creation of an initiative group of national minorities, the press service of Zakarpattia Regional State Administration reported.

"The goal is to unite the efforts of state authorities and representatives of the ethnic communities of the region to ensure respect for their rights and resolve pressing issues. The initiative group is being created within the framework of the Council of Europe project ‘Support for the reform of the legislative framework of national minorities and strengthening the sustainability of national minorities and Roma in Ukraine," the Facebook post says.

The group will include representatives of the structural divisions of the Regional State Administration and all national minorities living densely in the region. Together, they will study the current needs of ethnic communities and form a work plan for the implementation of necessary programs and activities.

"The creation of an initiative group at the regional level is important for Zakarpattia, given the number of national communities that live here. It is encouraging that public organizations are directly involved in the implementation of such an initiative of the Council of Europe. In turn, we are ready to provide all necessary support," commented Roman Moldavchuk, Director of the Department of Strategic Communications, Nationalities and Religions of Zakarpattia Regional State Administration.

It is noted that the main task remains to jointly find new ways to implement state policy to support national communities. This will be most effectively achieved with the active participation of their representatives.

"Two years ago, we launched this initiative in five regions of Ukraine: Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zakarpattia, Odesa and Chernihiv. The idea was to bring together representatives of national communities and local authorities to jointly discuss existing needs, measures and projects. According to the results of the pilot, it turned out that there are actually many sensitive issues that require consolidation of efforts," said Zemfira Kondur, representative of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine and project manager.

According to her, at that time initiative groups were created at city councils or local communities, and now they are considering the possibility of moving to another level to help realize the rights and address the needs that representatives of national communities have. The Council of Europe will provide financial and grant support for the implementation of the measures during the year.

Oleksandr Liakh, Deputy Director of the Department of Strategic Communications, Nationalities and Religions of the Regional State Administration, and Eleonora Kulchar, an expert from the Council of Europe Office, coordinator of the initiative group in Zakarpattia region, will coordinate the work of the initiative group.

During the meeting, representatives of public organizations had the opportunity to talk about the needs of their national community and discuss topical issues.