Conference: Integrity is the Future of Ukrainian Society

Ambassador Ole Egberg Mikkelsen was on a panel with the title “Engaging the with international partners and fighting corruption” together with Ukrainian deputy speaker Oleksandr Korniyenko, US ambassador Bridget Brink, Ambassador of the European Union to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova and Harsheth Vik of UNODC.

Ambassador stated the following: “In my almost four years of service as Denmark’s envoy to Ukraine, I have never seen as much will to fight against corruption as I am seeing now. The EU-application was an important turning point. The Copenhagen criteria are very categorical when it comes to corruption, yet, much work is still to be done to ensure integrity across all spheres of the society,. I am proud that Denmark and EUACI are able to support Ukraine in this process. At the request of President Zelensky, Denmark has assumed partnership with Mykolaiv and by now has granted substantial financial aid to the city and region. We have full trust in the good will of the local authorities, yet there is a risk of corruption. We try to mitigate the risks. Mykolaiv is part of the EUACI “Integrity Cities” project, while all procurement is conducted via trusted UN agencies and we have just opened an embassy office in Mykolaiv to ensure e oversight. I am confident that Ukraine will show the same fighting spirit and determination in the fight against corruption as Ukraine is showing on the battlefield”.