StrategEast announced the nominees for the Westernization Award 2019.
Economic Westernization – Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky has been awarded an Economic Westernization Award for the establishment of the land market in Ukraine. In 2019, President Zelensky instructed the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) to lift the moratorium on land sale and adopt a bill allowing to open the land market. In November, 2019 the Ukrainian parliament passed the bill in the first reading. The World Bank estimates that by lifting the moratorium on farmland sales and introducing the open land market Ukraine can boost its economy by up to 2%.
Political Westernization – Carl Bildt, Prime Minister of Sweden (1991-1994), Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014), Senior Advisor, Covington & Burling and Radosław Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (2007-2014), Member of European Parliament
Carl Bildt and Radoslaw Sikorski have been awarded a Political Westernization Award for launching Eastern Partnership initiative. Over the past decade the collective efforts of the EU and the Eastern neighbours – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have brought considerable benefits to the citizens including more trade, mobility, increased economic development and better quality of life.
Westernization of lifestyle – Juan Navas-Sabater, Lead ICT Specialist, Program Leader in European Union Member States, Europe and Central Asia, World Bank. Mr. Juan Navas-Sabater has been awarded a Lifestyle Westernization Award in recognition of his contribution to bringing fast broadband Internet for millions of people in Central Asia with World Bank Digital CASA Project.
Legal Westernization – David Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury, chair of the International Advisory Board, Ukraine’s High Court on Intellectual Property. Lord Neuberger is awarded a Legal Westernization Award for his contribution to the development of the legislation in the intellectual property rights in Ukraine. The international Advisory Board of Ukraine’s High Court on Intellectual Property chaired by Lord Neuberger forms part of a radical transformation of the country’s legal system.
Language and Culture Westernization – Reed Hastings, Co-founder and CEO at Netflix.
Mr. Hustings has been awarded a Cultural and Language Westernization Award for offering TV streaming service to post-Soviet countries, thus spreading the habit of using legal multimedia content across the region and motivating the nations to learn English.
Lifetime Achievement – Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State (1997-2001), Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, and Chair of Albright Capital Management. Ms Madeleine Albright has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Westernization Award in recognition of her tremendous contribution to the integration of post-Soviet countries into the Western economic system.
The Westernization Award was established by StrategEast in 2018 to emphasize the significant contribution of politicians, business representatives, and civil activists to creating closer ties between post-Soviet countries and the Western World. It is presented in six categories: Economic Westernization; Political Westernization; Legal Westernization; Westernization of Lifestyle; Language and Culture Westernization; Lifetime Achievement.
