ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES (ОN THE EXAMPLE OF UKRAINE): REGIONAL ASPECT

Research background. Modern trends in world politics and international relations dictate new schemes for establishing links between regions and encourage states to constantly improve them. One such form is economic cooperation between regions, whose development strategies are gradually being introduced in countries around the world. Since Ukraine signed an association agreement with the European Union, in most economic and legal issues it relies on the experience of the European countries. In addition, worthy of attention is the analysis of the current state of the regional development in Ukraine and on its basis the formation of the basic principles for interregional cooperation. Such experience and identifying main economic trends in the formation of economic cooperation between different regions can help Ukraine to introduce this process in practical terms and possibly avoid the most popular problems in this area. Purpose of the article. The provisions of the article provide a systematic estimation of the regional development of Ukraine based on the calculation of the Spearman coefficient from 2006 to 2016. On the basis of these calculations, the main preconditions for the economic development of interregional cooperation are analysed and the basic principles of such cooperation for the regions of Ukraine are formed. Methodology/methods. This work is based on the generalization of the official methodological information of the following Ukrainian regions that are the most interested for the economic foundations of the interregional development. Ukraine has a new decentralization reform for the regions, which will be able to give impetus to the economic development and increase the effectiveness of the interregional ties. Nevertheless, since this process is quite new for our country, it is critically important to study foreign experience in this field. In the future, as a result of such studies, it would be possible to develop economic and legal mechanisms for introducing the best world practices in the Ukrainian legal field. Value/originality. The provisions of the article solve an important theoretical and practical task – firstly for Ukraine – contribute to the formation of the interregional cooperation institution since by this time there is no unanimous opinion on the legislative level or on the scientific one. It seems possible, through such studies, to create the real mechanisms for the regional development in Ukraine and their cooperation with each other. Most Ukrainian and world economists view the development of the regions as such in themselves, no one examines it through the prism of economic development of interregional cooperation. We support and use this approach, because it is very important, as it provides an opportunity to comprehensively analyse the current state of the meso-level in Ukraine. For the first time in Ukraine, the results of the formation development at the regional level in the context of interregional cooperation are presented in the detailed description that could give the opportunity to Ukrainian economists for the next step in this scientific field. Practical implications. The results of this article will form the basis for the assistance to various regions in Ukraine in the matter of strategic planning and their cooperation since no clear and detailed actions for them have yet been recorded. In addition, this work is relevant for representatives of state authorities and scientists who deal with issues of the regional economy because no one in Ukraine has ever considered these issues in the context of interregional cooperation.