The mayors of Lviv and Kharkiv signed a cooperation agreement

Lviv and Kharkiv signed a cooperation agreement. Photo from Andrii Sadovyi's Facebook

On December 17, in Lviv, Mayor Andrii Sadovyi signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with Mayor of Kharkiv Ihor Terekhov within the framework of the national project «Side by Side: Cohesive Communities».

The Lviv mayor announced this on his Facebook page.

This step is aimed at active cooperation between the two cities for post-war recovery and development, in particular through the involvement of international resources.

«Kharkiv is an outpost of Ukraine. Lviv is a reliable rear. Together we will show the power of unity, rebuild our communities, and create new opportunities for the future,» he wrote.

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As noted in the Lviv City Council, the purpose of the agreement is to jointly attract international grants and partnership programs for the reconstruction of Kharkiv.

«Billions will be needed to rebuild Ukraine. And we understand perfectly well that there will not be enough money in our local budgets for this. For example, the last arrival in Lviv caused losses of 1 billion hryvnias. For Kharkiv, it is tens, hundreds of billions. Therefore, we are starting cooperation, hoping for the support of the President and the government, and of course, our colleagues from the EU,» Andrii Sadovyi noted.

The cooperation also includes close interaction with Eurocities and the Cities 4 Cities initiative, which Lviv City Council has been implementing for two years. This initiative has already helped 53 Ukrainian communities create European partnerships, which include not only youth exchanges, but also the transfer of municipal equipment.

Ihor Terekhov expressed hope for the effectiveness of the signed agreement.

«Despite the daily shelling, Kharkiv remains unbreakable. I am very proud of our Kharkiv residents, very proud and grateful to our military who defend our land. The war changed a lot for us. I would like to note that before the war, we had strong relations with different countries, different sister cities. We still have these relations now, but we want to develop them. I expect that the agreement we signed will be very effective, and we will once again tell everyone: East and West — together,» he said.

We will remind, in October, as part of the First International Conference «Mykolaiv — a City on the Wave,» which was held in Kyiv, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych signed two memorandums of cooperation aimed at the restoration and development of the city.