Working meeting of the UNLA Board of Trustees and Ethics Council: results and plans
On April 21, 2026, the Ukrainian National Lobbyists Association held a working meeting with representatives of the Board of Trustees and the Ethics Council, focusing on summarizing the results of its activities and determining the strategic directions of the institution’s development.
The meeting was attended by leading scholars and practitioners in the field, including Vasyl Kostytskyi, Doctor of Law, Professor; Yaroslav Melnyk, Doctor of Law; Liudmyla Kozhura, Doctor of Law, Professor; Olha Susska, Doctor of Sociology; Violetta Rybachkovska, lobbyist and public figure; and Oleksiy Shevchuk, Chairman of the Board of the National Association of Lobbyists of Ukraine. Other representatives of the association also joined the discussion online, which emphasized the broad expert representation and interdisciplinary nature of the discussion.
The key topic of the meeting was a discussion of the organization’s achievements over the recent period and outlining the next steps. The participants noted the active work on the development of a professional lobbyist standard as one of the fundamental elements of the professional community. The development of the association’s regional network and the launch of a comprehensive training program aimed at forming a new generation of lobbying professionals were also positively assessed.
A separate agenda item was the discussion of new strategic initiatives. In particular, the experts praised the launch of the APEX Ukraine platform, the first cross-sectoral business council on compliance and integrity in Ukraine. The initiative envisages the creation of an independent expert environment for risk assessment and implementation of a modern, risk-oriented approach to the interaction between the state and business.
As noted during the discussion, the creation of APEX Ukraine should be an important step towards increasing transparency and trust, and will help harmonize Ukrainian practices with European standards, in particular in regulating the status of politically exposed persons (PEPs) and assessing the risks associated with them.
Following the meeting, the participants emphasized the need to further consolidate the expert community and continue systematic work on the development of lobbying as a legitimate and transparent institution. The positive assessment of new initiatives, in particular the creation of APEX Ukraine, demonstrated the readiness of the professional community to implement modern standards of integrity and compliance in Ukraine.
