Ukraine to establish institute to improve the country's image abroad
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin announced the creation of a Ukrainian Institute for Improvement of Image with representative offices in other countries. This Institute will monitor the public image of Ukraine.
“We have analyzed the experiences of European countries. This experience isn’t the same. However, how could the country present a positive image of itself abroad? Over the past three years, we have done impressive work. There are so many separate projects but we believe that it is time to create the Ukrainian Institute. On the basis of analyzed experience, our interviews with civil society and many experts, we believe that a public institution, not part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but affiliated with it, is the best choice for us,” Klimkin stated at a press conference in Kyiv, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
According to Klimkin, the Institute will be partially funded from the budget of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and partially through grants, donations and charitable foundations. “We will report the exact financial volumes in a few months. We have already allocated a certain part of our budget,” Klimkin clarified. He believes that creating the Institute will take about two to four months.
“We plan to launch this process after discussing aspects of Charter and holding consultations. I think it will take several months. We expect that it will take from 2 to 4 months depending on the organization. We have a clear plan and we will follow it.”
According to Klimkin, understanding modern Ukraine and increasing trust towards Ukraine in international intellectual and cultural circles are the reasons the Institute was created. He also noted that there are plans to open representative offices of the Institute in several countries in Europe, North America and Asia.