Saakashvili signs reforms deal with US on regional support for Odesa
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/saakashvili-signs-reforms-deal-with-us-on-regional-support-for-odesa-39393
Odesa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili has signed a memorandum with the United States, assuring American support in reforming the region. The memorandum was counter-signed by William R. Brownfield, assistant secretary of state for drugs and law enforcement. It marks the first agreement between the U.S. and a regional Ukrainian government.
Posting pictures of the ceremony on his Facebook page, the former Georgian president said that the U.S. will assist in “reforming customs, administrative services and the provision of free legal services to volunteers.” Police officers from California, who are training Odesa’s new police patrol, were also present during the signing ceremony.
The U.S. State Department announced the forthcoming agreement Brownfield’s visit via a website update on July 6, stating that it “strongly supports” Odesa’s anti-corruption initiative.
“We are funding an anti-corruption action team of Ukrainian and international experts in the governor’s office, and launching a new anti-corruption grants program to broaden and deepen our cooperation with civil society partners,” according to the State Department announcement.
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Speaking to reporters at a press briefing held on July 17 at the U.S. embassy in Budapest, Brownfield stated that he was “proud of the newly-trained police” in Odesa, but asked that “you not hold us to a standard of seeing nirvana and paradise arrive in 24 hours.”
He continued: “Any new police institution requires time to understand their communities and their people.”