UNDP Blue Ribbon Analytical and Advisory Centre Task Forces description and ongoing projects

The Centre’s five Task Forces:

1. Macroeconomic Policies
2. International Integration
3. Regulatory Policy and Private Sector Development
4. Monetary and Fiscal Policy
5. Agricultural Policy

1. Macroeconomic Policies

This team will be charged with monitoring of and policy advice on national economic policies at the macro level; participating in the development of national medium- and long-term development plans, Government Action Plans and National Annual Socioeconomic Development Programmes, President’s State of the Nation Messages and other strategic planning documents; and ensuring of inter-consistency of other teams’ recommendations.

2. International Integration Task Force

Focused on issues of foreign trade policy, including World Trade Organization accession and regional trade arrangements, and Ukraine's European integration. The team’s main counterparts are the Ministry of Economy, the Government-Parliament Commission on WTO Accession, and the Parliamentary European Integration Committee.

On-going projects:

a) Advisory Support to the WTO Accession Process

The task force provides regular consultation on domestic subsidization and indirect mechanisms to support national producers, and concerning WTO agreements on agriculture, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, and technical barriers to trade.

Client: Ministry of Economy.

b) “Ensuring compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU and WTO standards”

Task force members analyze draft laws for their compliance with the EU-Ukraine Action Plan and WTO rules. The task force is also charged with designing and conducting in-depth, long-term analyses and research, particularly on the implications of WTO accession, the feasibility of regional trade arrangements, and the effects of foreign markets on Ukraine's economy.

Client: Parliamentary Committee on European Integration.

3. Regulatory Policy and Private Sector Development Task Force

Focuses on providing expertise in the following areas: a) regulatory policy; b) small and medium sized business development; c) privatization; d) competition policy; e) regulation of the investment climate of network industries.

Ongoing projects:

a) Monitoring Implementation of Regulatory Policy Principles

The main task of this project is to identify whether legislative activities of central state authorities are conducted in accordance with the main principles of state regulatory policy and the effectiveness of the deregulation process (i.e., the cancellation and modification of out-of-date regulatory acts).

Clients: State Committee on Entrepreneurship, Ukrainian Council of Entrepreneurs, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Institute of Competitive Society.

b) How to Make One-Window Registration Work Efficiently: Lowering Entry Barriers for Entrepreneurship in Ukraine

This project analyzes the barriers to the efficient functioning of one-window registration offices across Ukraine. The project includes a survey of entrepreneurs whose enterprises recently have been registered or are in the process of registration; analysis of the perceptions one-window registration offices employees concerning the barriers to efficiency; development proposals for improvement of state registration procedures.

Clients: State Committee on Regulatory Policy and Entrepreneurship; Ukrainian Council of Entrepreneurs, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

c) Securing Property Rights: Amnesty for Privatization Deals

This project develops a legislative framework to provide amnesty for the majority of the privatization deals conducted in Ukraine during the privatization process.

Client: working group of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine.

4. Monetary and Fiscal Policy Task Force

Focuses on a) the analysis of budget and monetary policy b) tax system reform; c) fiscal decentralization; d) development of stock and capital markets; e) public and private investment processes; and f) strategic macroeconomic planning.

Ongoing projects:

a) Developing Principles of Tax Reform

The main aim of the project is to analyze the shortcomings of the present tax system and develop recommendations for improvement in the short, medium and long term.

Clients: Secretariat of the President, Ministry of Finance, State Committee on Entrepreneurship, Council of Entrepreneurs at the Cabinet of Ministers.

b) How to Increase Independence of the National Bank of Ukraine

This project develops recommendations to enhance the Ukrainian National Bank’s independence, accountability and transparency.

The project includes defining the CBI framework (dimensions, spheres, degrees of CBI, positive outcomes and possible drawbacks, measuring CBI, indicators, instruments of central bank’s accountability and transparency etc), summing up best world CBI practices, problem approach analysis of current Ukrainian legislation in NBU independence, bank-government relations, accountability and transparency, policy recommendations for the NBU.

Client: National Bank of Ukraine.

c) Contribution to Preparation of the President’s Annual State of the Nation Message

This project prepares analytical materials and a statistical database for the third part (on social and economic policy) of the President’s annual Address to Parliament. The analysis will cover tendencies, problems, and prospects of tax and budget policy.

Client: Secretariat of the President of Ukraine.

d) Budget Process Analysis

The main aim of this project is to prepare analytical materials and recommendations in line with budget system development, particularly on enhancing relations between central and local budgets. It covers increased budget transparency and analyses of budget drafts submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers concerning interbudgetary relations.

Clients: Ministry of Finance, local governments.

5. Agricultural Policies

This team supports and facilitates the development and implementation of effective agricultural policies, particularly through the Government Agrarian Policy Coordination Council. Focus is on land market development, other essential legislation and action plans (for instance, subsidization laws), innovative and energy-saving farming.

a) Development and Implementation of Land Market Laws

Support is provided to finalise/amend and adopt laws and essential bylaws on land market, land valuation, real estate title registration, land conversation.

b) Improvement of Essential Legislation in Agriculture

Revision and formulation of recommendations to amend laws on subsidization, agricultural market regulation, national target programmes and sectoral development programmes for compliance with market principles, WTO requirements and other external commitments of Ukraine, as well as national budget policies.

c) Promotion of Environmentally Friendly Agricultural Technologies

Organisation of public dialogue on the subject and participatory drafting of legislation needed to promote organic farming and biofuel production.

Previously a separate project, the Agricultural Policy for Human Development, has been recently transformed into the Agricultural Policy Group — one of the five task forces of the Blue Ribbon Analytical and Advisory Centre. For detailed information on the activities of the APG please visit the site http://www.undp.org.ua/agro.