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Welcome speech of Nataliya V. Izosimova, presentation of the Foundation for Effective Governance
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to thank Rinat Leonidovich Akhmetov for the honour of heading the Foundation for Effective Governance. I would also like to thank members of the Board of Trustees. The project to establish the Foundation wouldn’t come to life without their active support.
So, about the Foundation, its mission, principles, and projects. Mr Akhmetov has said that the Foundation’s target is to help improve the quality of living of all Ukrainians. The Foundation will pursue this goal in two ways. Firstly, by funding long-term projects that are focused on economic development and are practical in nature. Secondly, by initiating and supporting public discussion of important issues for Ukraine’s development. This is our mission and prime task. To accomplish it, we will attract the best international and Ukrainian experts. We will integrate available, successful global experience and develop new ideas. Every effort and program of the Foundation must demonstrate that effective governance is based on good ideas, respect for the facts, rationality of argument, discipline in making decisions, and constructive debate. To do this in the right spirit and not simply to the letter, we must follow our principles every day in public and in private. They are not many in number but we hope that these three keystones will underpin trust in our Foundation. These principles include independence, openness, and a practice-oriented approach.
I will start with independence. We insist that we are independent from political parties, movements, and business groups. Each political heavyweight has a system of views and ideology, as well as their own strategy and program. Ideology is certainly decisive in this triumvirate, while the strategy and program result from it. There are party-formed analytical centers across the globe called “think tanks”. They are guided by the political goals of their party and their conclusions are aimed at backing already formed opinions. We are not a party-committed analytical center. We agree with the expression “facts are stubborn”. Opinions may be different but the fact remains. We can’t have our own facts. Our goal is to suggest solutions to complex and important problems strictly observing the facts without putting them on a Procrustean bed of someone’s views or interests. For this reason, independence is not simply a rule for us. It is our philosophy!
The independence principle results in the next fundamental principle of the Foundation. This is the principle of openness. We insist that we are open – for new information and new ideas, for people with different outlooks and views. It is important, however, for them to be ready for constructive cooperation and dialog, and to respect the facts. We are open for partners. We are open for mass media.
We are certain these two principles of independence and openness could help us make our – even if humble, even if focused on certain areas – contribution to achieve the goal of consistent realization of long-term economic programs. What do I mean? We have learned to compete well in business and politics. And this is excellent. Now we have a more demanding goal ahead. We need to agree and reach consensus on fundamental and essential areas of reform. And this fundamental package of reforms must be passed on from one government to another.
The old military principle “the winner takes it all” if continued “and breaks everything initiated by his forerunners”, in our view, slows down many positive economic processes in Ukraine.
Following these principles will help us realize the third principle – a practice-oriented approach. The Foundation strives to provide practical recommendations and suggestions, first of all to executive and legislative government of all levels as its major product. Yet, successful economic reforms in the modern democratic world can be ensured only with help of civil society. For this reason, the Foundation will cooperate with civil society organizations involving them in discussion and realization of our projects. By doing this we will contribute to building consensus on strategic areas for reform that will be a part of the long-term agenda of any government.
We don’t claim the status of an academic institution or a research center. We are, if I can put it this way, a “systematic integrator”. We are ready to consolidate efforts of the leading scientists, researchers, consultants, and experts to find practical solutions to the tasks facing our country.
The Board of Trustees consists of people with solid experience and excellent international reputations and will ensure the Foundation strictly observes its mission and principles. The Board of Trustees will take the leading role in building the Foundation’s strategy and approve the selection of projects that fully meet established criteria.
What are these criteria? When selecting projects, we look for answers to the following questions:
• Does the project meet the mission of the Foundation? Does it contribute to economic growth?
• Is the project important for development of the country?
• Does the project help achieve stable and tangible practical results?
• Can the Foundation ensure high-quality implementation of the project?
Today the Foundation manages a portfolio of three projects. They cover different areas and scope but each of them has passed through this selection process.
The first project of the Foundation was the creation of a medium-term program for the economic development of Ukraine. We believe that any practice-oriented program comprises two parts: a concept and an action plan. The concept is a combination of answers to questions “what to do?” and “why?”. The action plan includes in-depth answers to questions: how, with which resources, to what deadline, in which order, and who is responsible?
We started with the concept. The Foundation invited highly-skilled international experts and consultants and set them the task of determining the priority areas for economic reforms. In other words, to develop a concept of economic development for Ukraine. As we progressed, we tried to synthesize the best international experience, recommendations of Ukrainian and global organizations, as well as opinions of expert and business communities. Then, we decided to discuss it with the Government at a certain stage. The discussion made it clear that the position of the Foundation met that of the Government. The Foundation provided all its progress and results achieved to date and expert support to develop a concrete action plan. This model, I mean involving experts/consultants in detailed development and realization of certain reforms, has proved its viability in many successful countries.
Today the Foundation is discussing programs that meet this concept and that in future can be part of its portfolio as well as dates and forms to present it both to experts and the general public.
Our second project deals with preparation for Euro-2012. Why did we choose it? Because it is very important for Ukraine’s economy. Successfully hosting the championship will help improve the country’s image and increase its investment appeal. It will develop infrastructure which will benefit Ukraine’s economy long after the competition and create new effective cooperation models between the government and business. In short, it will help ensure economic growth. Within the project the Foundation will help coordinate activity of all organizations interested in development of a single Euro-2012 preparation plan.
Finally, our third project focuses on a comprehensive analysis of the competitiveness of Ukraine’s economy at the national and regional levels. The project is being implemented in partnership with World Economic Forum and follows its methodology. The analysis of the World Economic Forum will help Ukraine better understand the obstacles hampering economic growth and possibilities to remove them. I am glad we can learn about this project today from its chief manager who represents the Davos Forum.
To crown this, I would like to say we know very well that the Foundation has a challenging way ahead. But we are ready for it and confident that we are doing something very important for Ukraine.
We invite cooperation from everybody who shares our principles of independence, openness, and practice-oriented approach. Everybody who believes in facts, is ready for dialog and hard, sometimes ungrateful, work.
Thank you for attention!
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