Twinning is a new form of direct technical co-operation for Ukraine. Cooperation on one side involving public administrations and mandated bodies of EU Member States between Beneficiary Administrations of Ukraine that transfers know-how and best practices between public administrations of EU Member States and their Ukrainian counterparts. Twinning projects in Ukraine focus on, at least, some elements connected with the approximation of the acquis and also elements of structural reform. Twinning is one of the most efficient tools for implementing administrative reform.

Only "twinnable" public administrations can represent Ukraine in Twinning projects. It is however possible to find a similar type of administration in an EU Member State related to the domains of cooperation foreseen by the EU – Ukraine Partnership and Co-operation Agreement, the European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan and other important bilateral agreements. The section Political preconditions provides an overview of these main documents for the development of Twinning projects in Ukraine.

The extension and introduction of Twinning to Ukraine, the first among Tacis countries, is therefore a development that shows the importance attached to increased integration between Ukraine and the European Union.

The section Legal framework describes milestones for developing the legal basis for the implementation of Twinning Programme in Ukraine, which began in October 2005, defining the responsibilities and obligations of Ukrainian Beneficiary Administrations, along with creating a transparent and friendly environment for joint cooperation between Twinning partners.

The section Coordination of Twinning in Ukraine provides the structure of coordination and regulation of Twinning activities in Ukraine. The Twinning operators are described in the Twinning stakeholders section.

The Recommendations for Success section highlights the main recommendations proposed by the participants of the Annual Conferences for the Black Sea Region Countries on Twinning Operations which have been held in Ukraine, and provides the main documents of these Conferences.

The Opportunities section provides the main features for further developing Twinning projects in Ukraine which are foreseen by the Medium Term Plan (2006 – 2009).

Documents on topic:

The Twinning Programme in Ukraine - Commitments of the Beneficiary Institutions (28.03.2006)