22 June, a delegation headed by the Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau A.Sytnyk and Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Preventing and Combating Corruption Y.Soboliev visited the Council of Europe and met with key Council of Europe partners. The visit was realized through the joint CoE/EU Eastern Partnership Programmatic Co-operation Framework (PCF) Project for Ukraine “Fight against Corruption - Open Facility of Advisory Services for Ukraine (PCF-UA/AC-OFAS)” implemented by the Economic Crime and Cooperation Unit-DG I.

The delegation held meetings with the Council of Europe Secretary General, SG’s Special Adviser for Ukraine, Director General of Programmes, Head of the CoE Action against Crime Department, Director of the Venice Commission, lawyers of the European Court for Human Rights and the Council of Europe experts specialised on anti-corruption reforms and measures.

Supporting the newly established Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau’s and how to strengthen its operational capacities were the key points of the discussions. The Ukrainian authorities acknowledged that the fight against corruption is a high levelled priority in Ukraine and which requires comprehensive and serious measures; and expressed their intent to continue cooperation with Council of Europe in this matter. 

In view of this and in the framework of the above mentioned project, it was agreed that the CoE will assist and provide support to the Ukrainian authorities for the next 30 months by aiming the following expected results:

1. Increased compliance with anti-corruption legislation
2. Strengthened capacities of National Anti-corruption Bureau (NABU)
3. Strengthened Institutional capacities for (Recovered/Seized) Asset Management
4. Strengthened anti-corruption prevention measures through supporting National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC)

The visit provided possibilities of other subject matter bilateral meetings among the Ukrainian authorities and members of the Secretariat.