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Experts from Germany and Spain explained the perception of Ukraine in their countries

12:54 PM 10-2-2016

On February 8-9, the Institute of World Policy organized a visit of experts from Germany and Spain to Kyiv to explain Ukrainian opinion leaders the specifics of information activities in the EU member states.Among the visitors were Ulrich Speck, senior research fellow at the Transatlantic Academy of Washington, and Nicolas de Pedro, senior research fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB).

European experts met with Ukrainian diplomats, deputies, government officials, experts, journalists, and civil society activists.

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The first meeting was attended by representatives of the International Renaissance Foundation Olexandr Sushko, Yevhen Bystrytsky, Taras Kachka, Inna Pidluska, and Dmytro Shulga.

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The meeting with Ostap Semerak, First Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for European Integration, and Maria Ionova, Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for European Integration.

{1}The meeting with Dmytro Kuleba, Ambassador at Large of the MFA of Ukraine.

{3}The meeting with Natalia Popovych, co-founder of Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, Serhiy Sydorenko, editor of ”Yevropeyska Pravda,” and Tetiana Oharkova, journalist at “Hromadske TV.”

In addition to those meetings, held in the “off the record” format, Ulrich Speck and Nicolas de Pedro attended the public discussion “Ukraine-Germany: How to Turn Situational Partnership into Priority One” organized by the IWP on February 9, in order to ensure the most frank conversation. During that event, Alyona Getmanchuk, Director of the IWP, and Sergiy Solodkyy, Deputy Director of the IWP, presented their research on Ukrainian-German relations.

{2}In his speech, Ulrich Speck voiced his recommendations for strengthening Ukrainian-German cooperation. In particular, the expert advised the Ukrainian side not to focus on the Russian factor and formulate their own agenda in relations with Germany.
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In March, another visit is scheduled for two experts from the EU member states, who developed recommendations for strengthening the position of Ukraine in the fight against Russian propaganda in the EU.

This visit has been organized within the project “Working Visit of Foreign Experts to Kyiv to Dispel the Myths about Ukraine in the European Union.” This initiative is implemented within the “Initiative for Development of Ukrainian Think Tanks” project by International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) in cooperation with the Think Tank Fund (TTF), with the financial support of the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine (SIDA).