EU Advisory Mission opened a representative office in another Ukrainian city

The fourth Regional Office of the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) was opened in Mariupol. Three other EUAM offices run in Odesa, Lviv, and Kharkiv. The EUAM headquarters are in Kyiv.

"The new EUAM office in Mariupol is a step that shows the European Union's intention to support Ukraine on the path to reform," the EUAM said in a statement. 

The EU Advisory Mission has been working in Ukraine since December 2014. Representatives of the EU countries have been talking about the need to set up an office in Mariupol for several years. Thus, in 2019, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Tomáš Petříček, spoke on a visit to Donbas in Brussels at an EU Council meeting, VV writes.

The EUAM reported that the regional office in Mariupol will give comprehensive support to the state authorities of the Donetsk region to help the successful reform of the civil security sector. Among the primary tasks of the EUAM is to share the best European practices with Ukrainian partners.

"Building an effective law enforcement system that gains people's confidence requires persistent effort, time and resources," said the head of the EUAM, Antti Hartikainen.

"The EU countries decided to expand our activity in the south-eastern region of Ukraine because of the EU's firm intention to show its support and willingness to promote capacity development at the regional level throughout the country. Ukraine has the opportunity to develop its law enforcement system further on the ground. So the EUAM is ready to contribute to the steady development of the region by providing its partners with strategic recommendations and resource support."

20 experts from 10 countries work in Mariupol. They will help local EUAM partners build institutional capacity. 

The EUAM also provided the National Police Training Centre in the Donetsk region with equipment to improve the training of police officers in line with EU standards.