  Meeting international requirements in corporate transparency is important for facilitating investment and economic development, said Tetiana Iefymenko, Ukraine´s Deputy Minister of Finance. Ms. Iefymenko was speaking at a recent event co-organized by UNCTAD on the practical implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
This issue was the subject of deliberations at the 23rd session of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR), which took place from 10 to 12 October 2006 in Geneva. As an outcome of this session, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine requested the UNCTAD secretariat to assist in organizing a regional conference in Kiev, Ukraine, from 28 February to 1 March 2007.
The title of the conference was "International Financial Reporting Standards: Experiences and Perspectives of Implementation in Countries with Economies in Transition". The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development provided financial support for the event.
 The conference featured a number of international experts on IFRS and attracted over 90 participants from countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Representatives of Ministries of Finance, regulators and professional accountancy bodies were all in attendance.
Speakers included experts from:
- the International Federation of Accountants,
- the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation,
- the European Federation of Accountants,
- the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants,
- the World Bank,
- USAID, and
- the "Big Four" global accounting firms (Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers).
The Chairperson of the 23rd session of ISAR, Mr. Rudolph A. Mueller, also addressed the conference, emphasizing the importance of high-quality accounting and corporate reporting in the global competition for investment capital.
Among the many expert speakers, participants welcomed the CIS regulators, who shared their experiences implementing IFRS and discussed the lessons they had learned. Participants appreciated the regional approach to the subject and expressed their interest to make such a conference an annual event.
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