Western promise for Eastern Europe

Savutych is a town situated 100 miles from Kiev

Members of a Ukrainian development agency are in west Cumbria on Thursday learning about economic development.

The delegates are from the town of Slavutych, which was created after the Chernobyl disaster.

They are visiting the Westlakes Science Park, Whitehaven Harbour, and the Sellafield Visitors centre.

Dog Holden, from the West Cumbria Development Agency (WCDA), said it is a two-way learning experience.

The Ukrainians are from a business development agency similar to the WCDA, and want to see how the county is attracting more inward investment.

Savutych is a town of 26,000 people, situated 100 miles from Kiev.

Economic regeneration

Dog Holden, general manager of WCDA, said: "The visit is part of a tour of the UK.

"We were picked by consultants from the DTI because of our 20 years history of economic regeneration, first through business development agencies, and later through more strategic bodies.

"We know quite a lot about them because of links between the Westlakes Science Park and Slavutych.

"They are visiting Whitehaven harbour because of the impact of regeneration through tourism and a new image.

"I am sure we can learn quite a lot from them too, they may have experienced problems were will experience in later years."