Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, is traveling to Dijon today to meet with local government officials involved in international solidarity efforts.
She will take part in the meeting of the National Commission on Decentralized Cooperation (CNCD), which is being hosted in Dijon by the government of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, as well as regional international solidarity meetings and the board meeting of Cités Unies France.
The CNCD, whose meeting will be attended by the Ukrainian Ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, is devoting an item on its agenda to the current and future state of decentralized cooperation in support of Ukraine. A few days before the international conference dedicated to this same subject, which will be held in Paris on December 13, the Minister of State will reiterate the role played by French local governments in providing the local governments and people of Ukraine with concrete solutions to their immediate needs as they face the winter.
Since the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, 1,700 local governments have made financial contributions to the Local Government External Action Fund (FACECO), thereby enabling the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs' Crisis and Support Center (CDCS) to fund important emergency assistance projects in support of Ukraine and its neighboring countries.