Strategic business plan of Dnepropetrovsk Region development will be produced by the world renowned specialists. Dnepropetrovsk City started working on its development strategy half a year ago, while the City Governor Aleksandr Vilkul has already set the objective to develop a global strategy for the Region. The difference in approaches of the city and the region can be seen from the fact that Dnepropetrovsk members of parliament cut down the budget by UAH 400,000, the funds originally committed to strategy development and promotion of a positive image of the city. Unlike the members of parliament the Governor understands the importance of regional development. To this end, he engaged the Foundation for Effective Governance (with a USD 50-million budget for five years) and a world-renowned consulting firm to work on the strategy.

The leading region
On Tuesday Dnepropetrovsk State Regional Administration and the Foundation for Effective Governance held a round table to present the project. Among the round table participants were municipal and regional senior officials, CEOs of companies, city mayors, scientists and consultant specialists.
“There is no future without a strategy”, the Governor Aleksandr Vilkul addressed the round table participants. “We all must have a clear understanding of what our future is going to be. We are building a high quality region from the point of regional governance and development strategy. For that we need to look where we can combine our efforts, as well as to look for industries and technologies, which can become our growth drivers. Today it is important to show to business, investors, scientists and academicians in the development of which areas the region is interested in.

The launching site
It is possible to reveal these industries (in scientific jargon abused by most speakers at the round table these industries are known as “clusters”) on the basis of an in-depth analysis of competitiveness. The report was prepared within the framework of a partnership project of the Foundation for Effective Governance and the World Economic Forum. “Despite the crisis, in 2010 Dnepropetrovsk Region has managed to climb 10 positions (65th place) in the global ranking and become the leader among Ukrainian regions”, stated the Director of the Foundation for Effective Governance Nataliya Izosimova. “This year our region has taken a lead in the GDP per capita ratio with the result twice as high as the average national indicator”.

The information was of much interest to the round table participants as they could not imagine this major breakthrough made by the region.

“The leading position of our region is based on real facts”, Vilkul confirmed. “We have just Kiev ahead of us. Still, Kiev has a special status, this is Ukrainian capital. We are not the first; but we are not the second either.

Dnepropetrovsk Region has a solid industrial base. We produce almost 10% of GDP of Ukraine. Our Region accounts for more than 17% of industrial volumes and one fifth of export volumes. Dnepropetrovsk plays a very important role in almost all key economic indicators of Ukraine. In March-May we increased the volume of industrial production by one third compared to the same period last year. Our economic breakthrough was important both for Ukraine and the region. Analysis shows that the major challenge is the quality of roads (overall the region ranks second on the infrastructure). Also we are one of the three leaders on innovations. Other weaknesses of the region include healthcare and primary education.

Why we?

Foundation for Effective Governance has already developed strategies for Ukrainian regions. In particular, it developed and implemented strategic projects on raising competitiveness of Lviv and Donetsk Region. The deliverables of the strategy implementation can be seen already in both regions. Strategy for raising Dnepropetrovsk region competitiveness will be developed by the Foundation in partnership with Monitor Group. This is an international consulting company with offices in 23 countries of the world. It works with corporations and governments of different countries to help them reach the new level of development.

“We work only with the regions, which are important both for Ukraine and the whole world”, stated Nataliya Izosimova. “In addition, we start implementing the project in the regions, which are ready for this. Readiness means consent of regional authorities, the ability of the authorities to focus efforts of all structures on joint project as well as mutual understanding between the authorities and business and many other similar factors. Dnepropetrovsk Region is ready for the project as Aleksandr Vilkul is rather a professional manager than a politician and thus, he is an expert in management and planning.

In September 2010 we’ll see the launch of the project on development of the strategy for raising economic competitiveness of the region. The initial stage suggests selecting two priority clusters, agriculture with processing industry and construction, which are the best to start with. Then, one more area is likely to be added – higher education and science. At the end each cluster will be provided with a model and a step-by-step action plan to ensure their prompt development.

The whole project will be divided into several stages: economic assessment, analysis and priority of clusters, cluster development and implementation of recommendations. Dnepropetrovsk Region ranks 65th in the global ranking; it is between Russian Federation and Rumania. Our Region is ahead of such EU countries as Romania, Latvia, Greece and Bulgaria and one CIS country –Kazakhstan.

Aleksandr Vilkul: “This project does not belong to the governor or regional administration. It will be efficient only if it becomes the project of development for all of us.
Aleksandr Vilkul: “Today we have a think tank of the Region in this hall. I want all of us to think together and to gain the energy of changes.