On October 11, 2017, the Third International GR Forum was held in the “Parkovy” shopping center in Kyiv, which brought together company managers, representatives of state authorities, industry organizations, Government Relations (GR) specialists, PR, and marketing specialists. The program of the forum was devoted to the issue of the formation of a civilized dialogue between the government and business, as well as the issue of the legislative implementation of lobbying in Ukraine.

The forum began with a welcome speech by the organizer of the event, political consultant, partner of SIC Group Kateryna Odarchenko, who, announcing the successes in the industry, called all participants to constructive discussions.

The first panel of the Forum, moderated by Andrii Kulikov, was devoted to the topic of the relationship between government and business – dialogue or struggle. The speakers discussed the state of lobbying in Ukraine, as well as the problems and challenges facing Ukrainian society. In particular, Olha Bogomolets noted that government and business should be separated and perform their respective functions. What is not happening at the moment, that the representatives of the authorities serve the interests of private business structures from which they receive money, not the state. “It is necessary to create a clear, civilized, and most importantly, legal model of interaction between the government and business,” said the People’s Deputy.

Yevhen Dykhne revealed what forms of interaction with the authorities are used at Boryspil airport, and also emphasized the need to create a national strategy for the development of the aviation sector.

An important discussion at the GR Forum was the dialogue on the conflict in Donbas. Speakers discussed the methods of interaction between the authorities and society in the Donbas issue, the problems of displaced persons, and the dialogue on the resolution of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

In particular, People’s Deputy of Ukraine Serhiy Taruta noted that the problem of internally displaced persons has not been solved until now, that the authorities do not have methods to stop the bloodshed and offered his strategy. He expressed the position that the Minsk format of negotiations had exhausted itself, and proposed a new one – Vienna. The politician also proposed an action plan to resolve the conflict in Donbass – “three foundations”, which is designed to restore the legitimacy of the authorities, security in the region and the trust of the population in the state. The representative of the OSCE, Liana Horovytska, spoke about the monitoring of the situation and the interaction of the mission with the authorities and the constant dialogue with Serhiy Taruta regarding this problem.

Human rights activist Nataliya Kovalko noted that in the occupied territories, the state policy regarding the provision of education rights of internally displaced persons should be based, first of all, on the creation and provision of conditions under which citizens will be interested in obtaining a Ukrainian education. To do this, it is necessary to coordinate joint efforts and approve an action plan for the reform of all Ukrainian education, as well as separately define a state strategy for ensuring the rights of internally displaced persons to receive an education in Ukraine. This, in turn, should not be of a purely formal nature, but have appropriate financial support from the budget.

Gennadiy Borysychev, a representative of the public sector, raised the issue of discrimination against internally displaced persons, namely the lack of voting rights, housing, and social assistance for displaced persons, and the need for dialogue between the authorities and displaced persons. Borysechev also calls for the unification of advocacy movements for the protection of the rights of displaced people into a single force that will defend the interests of internally displaced persons by influencing the power structures.

The need for a constructive dialogue between society and the authorities to find new solutions to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine became the main conclusion of the discussion.

The institution of lobbying in the USA is regulated and simple, and in Ukraine you need to make maximum efforts to achieve your interests in the USA, and lobbying itself is the very key to the door of the American political establishment, it was with the speech of Kateryna Odarchenko that the discussion about Ukraine’s image in the world and interest lobbying began states in the international arena. A partner of the international company SIC Group spoke about the representation of the interests of Ukraine in the United States.

“Government Relations is the key to the existence of the state of Israel,” said Albert Feldman, director of the Ukrainian-Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies named after Golda Meir.

Political technologist Denys Bogush presented statistical data on the image of Ukraine in the world and what exactly our state is known for.

The leader of the NGO “Social Justice”, an expert in the field of international economy and public administration, Alla Shlapak, disclosed the advocacy case of the countries of the East, stressing that they should set an example for Ukraine. Government and business should talk about global trends and phenomena, I suggest paying attention not to forms of government, but to algorithms, to the actions of anti-crisis managers in some states, to the mechanisms of abolishing outdated post-Soviet management models – Alla Shlapak noted in her speech.

“Transport – dialogue or confrontation” became the fourth topical discussion of the GR Forum. The speakers unanimously talked about strategic plans, about the balance of interests in this field. After all, dialogue between business, government, and society in this field is necessary even before the approval of strategies. The speakers raised the question of what stereotypes exist in society: negative procurement experience, abuse of power, lack of normal logistical capabilities, difficulty in harmonizing different types of transportation, etc.

When asked about Ukraine’s transit opportunities, healthy lobbying in the industry, and strategy, Yaroslav Dubnevich, Chairman of the VRU Committee on Transport, said, “What is now is far from a Strategy,” and discussions about the strategy have been going on for over two years. These are just beautiful general words. This is not a document in which there are clear goals and plans for implementation. In order to understand what exactly worries the industry and business, a constant dialogue between lawmakers and society is needed. And the Committee involves the public in the discussion of projects – this is how important and fundamental amendments are worked out.

Continuing the transport discussion, People’s Deputy of Ukraine Andrii Vadaturskyi noted that there are many problems and questions in the industry, and the Minister does not provide an opportunity to conduct a constructive dialogue. Vadatursky revealed his vision of lobbying in transport and touched on the topic of shipbuilding, stressing that it is very important to develop this industry, because at one time a number of regions existed on the basis of this industry, more than 150,000 people were employed, now about 5,000, so the shipbuilding industry needs to be restored.

Oleh Bondar, managing partner of a legal company, with his thoughts on the regulation of air transport, touching on the problem with Rainair: until there is a national transport strategy, it is impossible to determine the interests of the state in air transport.

Borys Kolesnikov, ex-Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and former Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, continued the discussion, speaking about PPP (public-private partnership), revealing experience in this field, namely the implementation of the construction of Terminal D together with the Japanese. Kolesnikov noted that railway transport services should be transferred to private ownership, and only the railway track should remain in state ownership.

The transport discussion was concluded by Serhiy Yevtushok, a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Transport, who emphasized that our country has an extraordinary transport potential and its reasonable use can allow us to take a rightful place on the modern economic map of the world, provide a new source of foreign payments and to form a stable foundation for the entire economy of the state.

The interaction between business and government reflects the interests of society and is the most important factor in the country’s sustainable development. The discussions that took place during the first four discussions at the III International GR Forum identified efficient systems of business relations with the authorities, which do not allow the subjects of interaction to effectively implement their functions and negatively affect the solution of economic problems of society.