The Congress was formed on February 25, 2021. At the heart of his work is the task of the President of Ukraine to establish close cooperation between the central state authorities and local self-government bodies in order to develop agreed solutions with the aim of improving the quality of life of people in all regions of the state.

One of these decisions was the Memorandum on not increasing the level of tariffs in the areas of centralized supply of thermal energy and hot water for the population in the heating season of 2021-2022, signed at the Congress session on September 30, 2021. This decision made it possible to guarantee the stability of the cost of utility services and prevent an increase in payments for communal services for all Ukrainian households.

Since the creation of the Congress, four sessions of the Congress have been held: September 30, 2021, October 29, 2021, April 27, 2022, and March 4, 2023.

Regular meetings of its working bodies – the Chamber of Local Authorities, the Chamber of Regions and the Presidium – were also held.

Meetings of the Presidium of the Congress have been held 7 times since its establishment: March 23, 2021, July 29, 2021, February 11, 2022, May 4, 2022, July 14, 2022, February 22, 2023, and March 2, 2023. Practically all of them took place in an extended format with the involvement of representatives of state authorities, local self-government, the diplomatic corps and international partners.

During the time that has passed since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Congress did not stop its work, but for obvious security reasons, the format of its activity was shifted towards the prompt solution of the most painful problems of local self-government and the organization of state power in the regions. This was especially true of the areas most affected by the war.

Currently, the Congress is moving to a new, planned stage of work. In particular, on February 22, we held an extended meeting of the Presidium. March 2 – organizational meeting of the Presidium. On March 4, as you know, a meeting of the Congress was held in Lviv in a mixed format (online and offline). It was a unique meeting, firstly, in that it was the first meeting during a full-scale war, and secondly, for the first time, almost all members of Congress participated in it – 1,638 members or 94% of the total. In particular, 345 city heads, 401 village heads, 606 village heads, 119 heads of district military administrations, 119 heads of district councils. Also, the leadership of the OPU, the Government as a whole and other participants determined by the Regulations on the Congress took part in its work.

We assess the holding of this meeting as very significant and successful. The focus of the Congress is the issue of security for our communities and regions, social protection of the population, especially internally displaced persons, and restoration of energy infrastructure, etc. Based on the results of the meetings of the Congress and working bodies, management decisions are worked out and, most importantly, there is direct and frank communication with representatives of authorities at all levels in the regions, which significantly speeds up and facilitates the resolution of problematic issues.

Separately, it is necessary to say about the decision made by the members of the Congress – to form the Office of the Congress. It will become a new communication platform between members of Congress. Previously, this function was performed by the Office of the President of Ukraine. From now on, it will be a separate specialized structure of the Congress. Such an Office will provide organizational and analytical support for the work of the Congress and its working bodies and will make it possible to further increase the efficiency of horizontal interaction between members of the Congress.