Today at 12:49
The Swiss government offers Ukraine additional aid programs and intends to involve the private sector in reconstruction projects.
Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction, Minister of Community and Territorial Development Oleksiy Kuleba discussed this with the Ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine and Moldova, Felix Baumann, Ukrinform reports, referring to the Ministry’s press service.
“Early Recovery projects are another important focus of our cooperation. The Swiss Government plans to allocate 1.5 billion Swiss francs for reconstruction projects in Ukraine for the next four years. Of these, 1 billion will be directed, as before, to the self-government, demining and humanitarian aid sectors. The rest of the amount will be allocated for recovery programs with the involvement of the Swiss private sector,” said Baumann, according to the ministry’s report.
The ambassador said a representative of the Swiss government would be deployed in Ukraine to supervise project implementation. The delegation from the Swiss private sector is now in Kyiv, learning about Ukraine’s needs for the medium and long term.
It is expected that the assistance of Swiss partners will help create new jobs across Ukraine’s regions.
In turn, Kuleba thanked Switzerland for its constant and systematic support to Ukraine. He added that support for internally displaced persons, of whom there are currently more than 4.5 million in Ukraine, is now added to the ministry’s area of responsibility.
“Therefore, one of the focuses of cooperation is the construction of housing for such categories. We are interested in developing regional programs so we could expand our cooperation within the framework of the funding offered by Switzerland,” Kuleba said.
Separately, the parties discussed cooperation between the Ministry and the Government of Switzerland within the framework of the sectoral working group on decentralization and regional policy. Filling the group’s work with practical content should increase the effectiveness of shaping up regional policy.
The ministry also held a meeting with the delegation from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of the Swiss Confederation (SECO), who arrived in Ukraine to hold the 14th meeting of the Ukrainian-Swiss Joint Committee. At the Ministry, SECO representatives presented an action plan aimed at supporting Ukraine’s recovery efforts with the involvement of the Swiss private sector.
As reported, Deputy Minister of Energy Roman Andarak discussed with Armel Castets, Deputy Director of International Financing of Enterprises and Foreign Trade Support of the General Treasury of France, the priorities in assisting the Ukrainian energy sector.
Read also: Ukraine to produce 1.5M drones by year-end – PM Shmyhal
