The mayor of Mykolaiv Sienkevych told about his trip to the USA

Mykolaiv City Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych. Archive photo: NikVesti

During his visit to the USA, the Mayor of Mykolaiv Oleksandr Sienkevych met with representatives of American cities, businesses and international organizations to discuss the restoration of Mykolaiv, attracting investments and supporting Ukraine in the war with Russia.

He told about the details of the trip in an interview on the MART TV channel.

As you know, on September 28, the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych announced that he went on a working visit to Washington. where he had a dozen different meetings where he talked about Mykolaiv and how the city lives during a full-scale invasion.

In the city of Columbus, Ohio, Sienkevych held a meeting with Mayor Andy Ginter, where the possibility of establishing twinning relations between Mykolaiv and Columbus was discussed.

«First, we met in the state of Ohio, in the city of Columbus, where Mykolaiv, Lviv and Energodar were represented. Of course, everyone has their own problems. The problems that today exist in Mykolaiv and Lviv cannot be understood, because everything is fine with water supply, but they have a problem with where to resettle internally displaced persons. We have a problem, how do we keep people in the city and how do we simply survive this winter. So, of course, I talked about it. I want to say that our country has almost no twinning relations with American cities. Currently, our state policy is to create such partnerships. After the meeting with the mayor of the city of Columbus, Andy Ginter, we prepared documents about the specialization of our city, what we want, which partners, and how we see the next cooperation,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

During his visit to Washington, Oleksandr Sienkevych took part in a series of meetings with international organizations and large companies, such as the World Bank and Bank of America, where he presented Mykolaiv's investment opportunities. The second part of the visit took place in Washington, where the delegation met with representatives of the World Bank, American investors and donor organizations.

«The second part of the trip was to the city of Washington. Actually, two events were held there in parallel. We met again with representatives of American banks, representatives of the World Bank and talked about various possibilities of cooperation of our cities with potential donors, as well as with potential investors. Well, it is worth noting that the visit of Ukrainian mayors to Washington and New York as part of the Rebirth Ukraine visit also took place in parallel with this. There we held meetings with various businesses and presented our investment attractiveness. In fact, in any field in Mykolaiv, no matter what you start, there will be a place to have fun. He also presented our city, our region, and also talked about creating twin relations,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

During the visit, the delegation also visited the USAID office, where they discussed further cooperation with American partners. Oleksandr Sienkevych announced the upcoming visit of the USAID ambassador to Mykolaiv.

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych took part in the conference «Doing Business in Ukraine», photo: telegram Sienkevych Online

During meetings in Washington, Oleksandr Sienkevych called on international partners to support the provision of modern weapons, air defense systems and aircraft to Ukraine, stressing that the key task now is the safety of Ukrainians.

«That is, in fact, I think that there is such a data check, whether the information provided by the Office of the President, the Cabinet of Ministers, matches the information of local bodies, and among mayors, and among any other local communities. Because we will do the restoration after the end of the war. Everyone understands that this is not the number one priority today. We are working on it, planning and preparing for recovery. But today the number one priority of saving the lives of the military is weapons, air defense, aircraft, everything that will allow us to have an advantage on the battlefield,» he said.

He also emphasized the importance of drawing attention to the problem of Ukrainian prisoners of war and called for more active international participation in the process of their exchange.

«And, of course, they raised an important topic, it is a topic that concerns prisoners of war. We see those Ukrainian soldiers, boys and girls, who return from captivity, in what form they are, they are constantly under torture, they are mocked, they are actually killed,» he summarized.