Congress President Gudrun Mosler-Törnström attended the Ceremony of the 25th Anniversary of the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) in Kyiv (Ukraine) on 30 June 2017. She delivered a speech at the opening of the Ceremony in presence of the Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, the Deputy Prime Minister for Regional Development, Gennady Zubko, and the Mayor of Kyiv and President of the AUC, Vitaliy Klitschko. “This Anniversary illustrates the importance of national associations as a driving force for good governance, decentralisation processes and democracy,” she declared. “The AUC has proved to be an influential organisation with a strong capacity to defend local government interests at national and European levels. The increased dialogue between the association and the Congress is promising,” she added, reiterating the Congress’ support to the AUC. “The ties we have been building will mutually consolidate each other’s work and achievements, with the shared objective of strengthening local democracy in Ukraine,' Gudrun Mosler-Törnström highlighted. She took the opportunity to stress out the importance of an extensive co-operation between the Congress, the associations of local and regional authorities, and their respective national governments, in order to enhance the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, boost citizen participation and foster multi-level governance.