On the 8 – 11 May 2016, the Ukrainian Think Tanks Liaison Office in Brussels (the Office) organised a visit of the Ukrainian energy experts – Olena Pavlenko, President of the DiXi Group think tank, and Roman Nitsovych, Program Manager of the DiXi Group, to Berlin.

During the visit, experts participated in the expert discussion jointly organised by the Office, the Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). The experts also held close-door consultations with the officials from the Federal Chancellery and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Germany and met Ukrainian diplomats in Germany.

Olena Pavlenko and Roman Nitsovych presented the latest DiXi Group Policy Brief “Ukraine’s Gas Sector Reform: A Future Win-Win for Ukraine and Europe” during the discussion. The paper presents the picture of the recently undertaken reforms in the gas sector and proposes recommendations on how both Ukraine and the EU can already benefit from their results.

Reforms in other energy areas, recent changes in the Ukrainian governing bodies and further reform plans were discussed during the close-door consultations with the German officials.

The Ukrainian Think Tanks Liaison Office in Brussels and its member-organisations will continue bringing their expertise on Ukraine to EU member states.

The visit was organised by the Ukrainian Think Tank Liaison Office in Brussels in the framework of the project “Improving the communication capacity of the grantees of the Think Tank Development Initiative” supported by the SIDA, the International Renaissance Foundation and the Open Society Europe Initiative.