Volodymyr Yalovyi, Deputy Secretary General of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and James Pettit, US Chargé d’Affaires in Ukraine, handed interns i.d cards to 86 Program participants of the 2009-2010 Parliamentary Internship Program.

It was the 15th year of the IP operation in Ukraine. Over nine months, students from various regions get internship with 28 parliamentary committees and departments, 6 ministries and the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine.

In the course of internship, they will take part in law-drafting, organize public hearings, committee meetings and round-table discussions; they will study such subjects as the public policy analysis, gender policy, legislative mechanisms and law drafting, rules of procedure. On a weekly basis, interns will meet with prominent politicians and decision-makers of Ukraine, foreign experts.

Each year, about one-third Program graduates continue their careers with public authorities of Ukraine; many have been enrolled to the staff pool of the Verkhovna Rada.

Among the ceremony participants were Eleanor Valentine¸ Director of the Parliamentary Development Program for Ukraine, Ihor Popov, Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada, Kyrylo Molodyko, Advisor to the Justice of the Constitutional Court Program Alumnus.