On October 12th, with the support of “SIC Group”, the Ukrainian Association of Professionals in the field of GR and lobbying, and the International GR Association, an International GR-Conference was held at the Press Club in Brussels. As Nord Presse reports, Speakers to have the floor were experienced GR specialists, policymakers, and media experts, such as John Frank (vice president, specialist in GR at the EU vector in Microsoft), Frank Schwalba-Hoth (founder of the Green Party in Germany and former MP of the European Parliament), Kateryna Odarchenko (President of the Ukrainian Association of Professionals in the field of GR and Lobbying), Ioanna Suprantaneu (Co-chairman of CitiBank on GR issues in the EU), Jeremy Rollsson (responsible for relations with the government (GR) in the Microsoft EU), Alexey Musatov (Executive Director of the National League of Transport Business, e-Government expert at ODC IWG), Theodora Marinska (Head of GR to the European Commission for Tourism), Costas Rossoglou (GR head in the EU within «Yelp») and Sylvie Popá (Assistant Director of «Celgene» on GR and public policy in the EU). During the discussions, the participants had an opportunity to discuss GR and advocacy challenges, and effective mechanisms for cooperation with the authorities. Also, the contemporary GR implementation tools, namely Big Data technology, blockchain, cloud technologies, and other instruments, became subject matters for the participants. Within the European aspect, the implementation of GR strategies in the field of tourism, the relationship with the EU public health authorities, and the advocacy of regional development remains important.

President of the Ukrainian Association of Professionals in the field of GR and lobbying and CEO of SIC Group Kateryna Odarchenko also noted the growing tendency of the role of technologies in the field of public advocacy and lobbying. The use of research areas such as micro-targeting, neuromarketing, BigData is becoming commonplace for effective GR-specialist work. At the same time, these technologies disclose many new issues for the professionals. In particular, the question of ethical limits of access to personal information, and the issue of the transparency of the use of such technologies. Modern government communications are placing increasingly stringent requirements for the levels of professional training of employees. Unfortunately, in the countries of the Eastern Partnership, actually, the system of professional training of employees in the field of lobbying and public advocacy has not been created yet. Kateryna Odarchenko emphasized the outstanding role of the joint work of Ukrainian and European specialists in the sphere of creating a unified system of professional training. Odarchenko’s remark was that her experience in post-Soviet states, which used to solve issues by the means of a corrupt component, rather than through civilized communications, suggests that the development of a correct lobbying procedure is difficult in a similar region. It is necessary not only to change the understanding of people, but their coherent picture of the social world, as well, and even more. Sometimes the mentality and traditions that have developed for centuries would have to be subjected to considerable criticism and to depart from those social patterns that have been developing in a society for generations.