Former President of Ukraine is coming to Kristiansand

This is happening on the occasion of the European conference on democracy and human rights, which is being organized in Kristiansand on 6 May.

It is the fifth year in a row that the Council of Europe and Kristiansand have collaborated to organize the conference in the city.

– Appreciate it

This year, Viktor Yushchenko, who was president of Ukraine from 2005 to 2010, will initiate talks about Ukraine’s integration into Europe. It is at the invitation of Kristiansand mayor Mathias Bernander that Ukraine’s former president comes to the conference.

– Russia’s warfare against Ukraine affects the entire situation in Europe. This has been a main issue at the annual European conference in Kristiansand since 2022, and we greatly appreciate that Yushchenko has accepted my invitation to participate in this year’s conference himself, says Bernander in a press release.

Yushchenko participated on video link two years ago, when his trip could not be carried out for security reasons.

– Kristiansand attaches great importance to supporting Ukraine, says Bernander, and adds:

– We signed a cooperation agreement with Mykolaiv in Ukraine during last year’s European conference, and the two municipalities have cooperated on local democracy, business, measures for youth and infrastructure. We are pleased that the mayor of Mykolaiv is coming to the European conference, and I look forward to meeting him to discuss further cooperation. There will also be a large youth delegation from Ukraine to Kristiansand.

75th anniversary of the Council of Europe

The annual European Conference on Democracy and Human Rights in Kristiansand is one of Europe’s largest events to mark Europe Day, which was instituted to commemorate the establishment of the Council of Europe in 1949.

This year is the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe, and this will be marked at the European conference in Kristiansand, with the participation of the Council of Europe’s management and the Storting.

Other current topics at the conference are the War Damage Register for Ukraine, which has recently been established in The Hague, and which is being presented in Norway for the first time, and the new European regulations from the EU and the Council of Europe for regulating the use of artificial intelligence, the press release further states.

Freedom of expression and artistic freedom is the theme of the European conference’s evening program, which is chaired by Agnes Kittelsen.