| Crimea Participates in European Regions Open Week | | Print | |
| Written by EUUBC Secretariat |
| Thursday, 22 October 2009 16:02 |
 The EU Ukraine Business Council arranged a number of meetings and visits for Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea, Mr. Nikolay Kolisnychenko who visited Brussels to participate in the European Regions Open Week from the 7th - 9th October.
The discussions between the Business Council and FIR, one of its member's, were devoted to establishing Crimea's needs in developing its relationship with Europe and Brussels. Although a potentially strong point, there are however a few problems and issues which need to be tackled. The discussions focused on energy, environmental and waste management, infrastructure development, agriculture, the wine industry and tourism, as well as the possibility of attracting international cruising companies. The EUUBC delivered information on existing and future EU programs that cover Crimea and potential benefits, which are obtainable. A separate meeting was held to discuss ways of developing links with EU Member State regions including Brussels and the opening of a virtual regional representation in Brussels. The EUUBC also arranged a meeting with representatives of WYG International, a company that operates in Ukraine and specialises, in particular, in environment management projects. They discussed ways to develop the project and obtain EU funding for it. One of most urgent issues for Crimea is waste management and waste usage, especially the Yalta city waste dump, which combines domestic and industrial waste. Programs are needed to educate the population about the importance of waste recycling and sorting. These should form part of a wider program on waste management. At the same time there are good opportunities for business development, using modern technologies to extract benefits from waste management, which can be used by municipal companies. As a response to a need of Crimea to deal with energy and environmental issues the EUUBC organized the visit to Machiels Group one of the largest Belgium groups with international operations, specialized in waste management. On October 9th, the Crimean delegation visited REMO Eco-Valley in Hasselt, a province of Limburg, where they were able to see a demonstration on the technical process of extracting methanol from industrial waste and transforming it into electricity. The Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea was also invited to the official opening ceremony of a solar panel field in Lommel, the largest in Benelux, which is very relevant to Crimea’s need to produce its own electricity by taking advantage of 300 sunny days per year. It was agreed that the EUUBC will continue to provide support and assistance to Crimea, taking advantage of EU programs and initiatives to promote investment potential, build B2B contacts and assist Crimean SMEs to enter the EU market.    |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 22 October 2009 16:16 |
