Second SIGMA Regional ENP East Conference on Public Procurement

 

SIGMA, together with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, organised the Second Regional European Neighbourhood (ENP) East Conference on Public Procurement for ENP East countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) in Kyiv on 29-30 May 2018.

The main objective of the Conference was to provide participants with an overview of the most recent developments in the EU public procurement system and trends, achievements and challenges in the region. The event provided a platform for formal and informal exchange of experiences between SIGMA's partner ENP East countries, the European Commission (EC) and EU member countries. Participants included senior officials from ENP East countries responsible in their countries for designing and implementing public procurement reforms: heads of the central public procurement offices/agencies and procurement review bodies, and their key staff, as well as officials from the leading ministries and other governmental agencies competent for public procurement.

The Conference addressed the challenges presented by the increasing pressure to adjust public procurement systems to international practice. 

The Conference was interactive and based on case presentations, with presentations and discussions organised around the following main themes:

• the EU public procurement policy and legislative framework - practical experiences of its implementation at the national level and future developments, based on presentations by representatives of the EC and EU member countries,

• the most recent achievements and challenges in public procurement reforms in the ENP East region, based on presentations by representatives of the ENP countries,

• the tools for improving the efficiency of public procurement processes (electronic procurement and centralisation of purchasing), based on presentations from the EC and OECD/GOV, and EU and ENP countries,

• guardians of the public procurement system – enforcing the public procurement rules (review by independent review bodies, audit by state audit institutions and monitoring by civil society organisations).

The meeting also provided the opportunity to meet informally to compare national experiences and discuss specific issues among peers, and to establish a network for more regular exchanges.

Conference agenda: Armenian I Azeri I English I Georgian I Moldovan I Ukrainian 

List of participants I Presentations

All photographs: Vengez Bogdan