On April 16, a meeting of the Partnership Council of the Ukraine Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Trust Fund (URTF), organized by Ukraine and the World Bank, was held in the framework of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, DC. 

The event was co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Olga Zykova,  World Bank Regional Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, Europe and Central Asia Arup Banerji and World Bank Country Manager for Ukraine Gevorg Sargsyan. 

The meeting was attended by the Fund's donors - representatives of the United States, Japan, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Belgium, the Republic of Korea, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland. 

"Since the beginning of russia's full-scale invasion, the URTF, created by the World Bank, has become the platform for consolidating grant assistance from international partners aiming for overcoming the consequences of the war. The restoration of damaged and destroyed infrastructure, in particular in the housing and utilities and energy sectors, education and healthcare, as well as support for the agricultural sector - all these areas of donor financial assistance are extremely important for Ukraine and are largely ensured due to the support of development partners through such a World Bank mechanism as the URTF," Olga Zykova noted.

The World Bank, through the URTF, has mobilized donor financial resources totaling about USD 1.8 billion to support Ukraine. Ukraine has already received USD 1.1 billion in grants to support critical measures in the areas of healthcare, housing and transport infrastructure, support for agricultural producers, and to improve the administrative capacity of the Government. 

URTF funds were used to implement the I_CAN Program jointly with the World Bank, which aims to improve the project management and public investment management system in Ukraine by enhancing institutional capacity in the administration of projects supported by international financial institutions. 

In addition, taking into account the URTF plan for 2024-2025, new projects are being prepared to implement reforms in the education, financial, transport, and business support sectors (SMEs) using the PforR (Program-for-Results Financing) tool. The projects will support the implementation of measures set out in the Government's key strategic documents, including reforms of local government, public administration, public investment management, improving the quality of teaching and learning in educational institutions, as well as road safety reforms and improving road infrastructure.

The Deputy Minister of Finance emphasized that the World Bank's coordinated support for Ukraine is crucial for ensuring key social and humanitarian expenditures of the State Budget, the Government's proper performance of its public services, and the planning and implementation of recovery and reconstruction measures. 

"Given the systematic destruction of our critical and social infrastructure by the enemy, the priority areas for reconstruction and recovery are energy infrastructure and water supply facilities, damaged housing, healthcare and education facilities, as well as the construction/repair of shelters and school shelters," the Deputy Minister added.