The establishment of the Centre is an important step. A particular priority should be to create strong project teams in the regions and communities. This was emphasised by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during an online speech at the official opening of the Centre for Strengthening the Capacity for Reconstruction and Modernisation of Ukraine.
The Centre was opened with the support of the Government of Ukraine, the World Bank Group and the Kyiv School of Economics.
“Recovery is one of our main tasks and priorities. Ukraine’s full recovery will be the largest such project since the Second World War. Therefore, in addition to implementing targeted projects and programmes, we need to have a helicopter view of what we are going to do and how we are going to do it,” said Denys Shmyhal.
According to the Government, successful reconstruction has five components: strategy, resources, implementation infrastructure, strong project teams of implementers, and the formation of a recovery coalition of international partners, business and civil society.
“Our strategy over the past year has been that we must start reconstruction despite the war. The strategy also includes an assessment of our damage and reconstruction needs. We are grateful to the World Bank for its support in this area. We hope to see RDNA3 as the next step,” the Prime Minister said.
According to Denys Shmyhal, over the past year, the Government has also created an infrastructure for reconstruction: the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, the Special Fund for the Elimination of the Consequences of Aggression. The Government has also decided to create the post of deputy for recovery in 8 ministries and 12 regions.
“We have partially reformatted the tasks within the Donor Coordination Platform. It now focuses not only on macro-financial assistance but also on reconstruction. We are working with the G7, the EU and international financial organisations. We have dozens of successful projects with the World Bank, the EBRD, the EIB, USAID, JICA and our other allies,” the Head of Government noted.
According to the Prime Minister, in 2023, more than UAH 60 billion was allocated from the budget for recovery projects in various areas. One of the key tasks for next year is to work on confiscating russian assets and redirecting them to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The Prime Minister thanked all partners, including the World Bank, who were helping Ukraine on this path.