The Ministry of Economy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Norwegian Refugee Council to provide financial assistance to relocated enterprises. The document was signed by the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko on behalf of the Ministry of Economy and Roberto Vila-Sexto, the Norwegian Refugee Council's Country Director for Ukraine.

"Due to russia's military aggression against Ukraine, businesses were forced to relocate from regions where active hostilities are taking place to safer ones. As of today, 800 companies have been relocated with the support of the Government, 80% of which are already operating in their new locations. The Memorandum of Understanding signed today with the Norwegian Refugee Council will allow us to provide additional assistance, including financial support, to such enterprises so that they can adapt faster and increase production capacity in new regions," said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The Memorandum stipulates that the Ministry of Economy will provide the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) with information on relocated businesses, after which the NRC will independently select companies to provide financial and other types of assistance. Among the primary selection criteria are that the company has been relocated to Lviv or Ternopil regions, has clear business ideas and the potential to create jobs, especially for young people, women and people with disabilities.

Under this Memorandum, the NRC plans to provide direct assistance to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises for 12 months.

The Government's enterprise relocation programme is being implemented by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine in cooperation with regional state administrations, as well as Ukrzaliznytsia and Ukrposhta. A company that decides to relocate from the affected regions can receive a package of state support, including the following options: selection of a location for the company's facilities; assistance with transportation to a new location; assistance in resettling employees and finding new employees; support in restoring logistics, purchasing raw materials and finding markets. The relocation programme helped save more than 35,000 jobs.

Background information

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent, humanitarian, non-profit, non-governmental organisation that provides assistance, protection and durable solutions to refugees and internally displaced persons around the world. NRC has been present in Ukraine since 2014 and in 2022 supported more than 500,000 people with food, shelter, water, sanitation, cash and legal assistance. In February 2022, NRC significantly expanded its operations with the opening of offices in Lviv, Dnipro, Ternopil, Odesa, Kharkiv and soon in Mykolaiv. NRC's office in Ukraine is currently providing support to internally displaced persons and people affected by the war.