Ruslan Strilets, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, shared the results of meetings held during his working trip to Brussels on his Facebook page.
Among those meetings were the following:
A scheduled meeting with European Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra. Ruslan Strilets told the European Commissioner about our units for the development of climate architecture. They discussed opportunities for joint projects to reduce emissions in various sectors of the economy. Mr W. Hoekstra assured us of the European Commission's full readiness to support those areas in Ukraine that need immediate recovery. In particular, to facilitate the launch of the ETS (EU Emmission Trading Scheme) in Ukraine and to involve the European Commission's experts in the development of the Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy.
"We touched upon renewable energy sources. We discussed joint opportunities for the construction of a wind farm and solar generators in Chornobyl. EU initiatives to scale up renewable energy are one of the EU's priorities. We agreed to work together on these issues," said Ruslan Strilets.
The Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources and Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič exchanged views on further cooperation in the field of critical raw materials.
"Today, Ukraine is actively implementing the principles declared in the CRM Act. I expect the European Commission to support our further steps towards the reform of subsoil use and the transformation of the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources into a modern service agency based on the single window principle," said Ruslan Strilets.
Ruslan Strilets discussed in detail the development of climate legislation with Gert Jan Koopman, Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR).
"Mr Gert Jan Koopman praised our progress in European integration and assured us of his readiness to support Ukraine financially on its green path. We agreed to establish working contacts with our experts to optimise all processes," told Ruslan Strilets.
"This is not the first meeting of the Minister with Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Environment (DG ENV). Ms Florika Fink-Hooijer shared her positive impressions of our cooperation on the FENIX programme and Ukraine's progress in implementing European legislation, and stressed the importance of updating the legislation on environmental control. We also touched upon the topic of digitalisation of the environmental sector. Not every European country can boast of such achievements in the digitalisation of environmental services as Ukraine".
Ruslan Strilets presented Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Environment with the Environmental Treaty for Ukraine. Its 50 recommendations are based not only on the security component but also on the principles of the European Green Deal.
"We have agreed with our partners to continue to maintain close communication between Ukrainian and European environmentalists. After all, European integration is a dialogue. And today, there is no doubt that this dialogue will result in Ukraine's official admission to the European Union family," said Ruslan Strilets.