Statement by Prime Minister during the plenary session Framework for smart and sustainable recovery process in Ukraine, Lugano, Switzerland, July 4, 2022

Good afternoon, dear guests of the conference.

Good afternoon, dear President of the European Commission.

Dear Mr. President of the Swiss Confederation.

Honorable Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Six months ago, we were actively planning the 5th Jubilee Reforms Conference in Lugano. We all wanted it. It would have been much better for all of us had this conference remained a reforms conference. But, unfortunately, it happened otherwise – there is a war in our country. Daily airstrike alerts. Dead women and children. Destroyed houses, roads, bridges... and destinies.

Each of us would like to talk about ordinary things today – growth, well-being, strengthening the market economy, and stability of the society.

But we will talk about something extraordinary. Extraordinary courage of Ukrainians, extraordinary challenges. Extraordinary and incredible support for Ukraine from all civilized countries of the world – from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. And, surprisingly, we are discussing extraordinary opportunities for Ukraine, for Europe, for the world, for each of us.

These opportunities are what unites us.

One well-known person said the other day, ‘Unity is the key to victory, in war or peace, it doesn't matter’.

We are all united by the desire to live in peace and quiet, to never having to face it again. The desire to have a home, to have your family close to you. There is hope that the future world for our children will be better than our present.

Today we are all united in our defense, tomorrow in our recovery.

No. Reforms have not disappeared from our lives. Moreover, to some extent it is thanks to the reforms that I am here in Lugano today. To a certain degree, thanks to the changes had been implemented by Ukraine for all those years, Kyiv did not fall, a number of regions were liberated from the invaders, and during the 130 days of the war, russia failed to achieve any of its goals.

The decentralization reform and independent local self-government made it possible to defend every city and every community with incredible valor on the ground.

European aspirations allowed us on the most terrible day – February 24, 2022 – to disconnect from the russian power grid and quickly integrate into ENTSO-E.

The banking sector reform has helped us maintain financial stability.

Digitalization has become foundational for the government's capacity and controllability of the situation.

And, in the end, all the steps, all the reforms that have been carried out in recent years allowed us to say with pride: Ukraine is a candidate state for membership in the European Union.

But it's time to move on.

Today we will talk about the Recovery Plan and Recovery Platform for Ukraine. We will discuss 24 volumes of the work done by the Ukraine’s National Recovery Council, which was established under the leadership of our President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We will discuss the focus areas for Ukraine’s recovery.

We have already done an extraordinary work – in just 6 weeks, more than 3,000 Ukrainian and international experts, officials, MPs have produced thousands of pages of their vision on what kind of country we are building and, most importantly, how we will rebuild our country.

We looked at both successful cases and failures. Why did some succeed, and others did not? Is it possible to copy and paste the previous experience? What were the main success factors?

We clearly understand that the Recovery Plan and the Road Map to it must be ready before the end of this war. Of course, this plan can be adjusted depending on different circumstances, but its frame must be ready.

And we know for sure that behind successful recovery cases there have always been partners or international coalitions that help in such recovery.

That is why today we present the Draft Recovery Plan right here in Lugano.

It is important for us to unite friends of Ukraine all over the world and build a coalition for Ukraine’s recovery. It is important for us to show foreign governments and companies that Ukraine has a very clear vision of how it can become successful, become a member of the EU and make the Ukrainian economic miracle come true.

Ukraine's recovery plan is divided into three key phases. The first stage is to rebuild right here and right now what is possible and what is critical for people's lives. There is no water in the liberated Chernihiv – it is vitally important to repair the water main right here and right now. In the Kyiv region, it is not possible to access some of the villages – temporary bridges and crossings must be built right there and right now. This work is already underway. We are currently financing from the budget of Ukraine.

The second part is fast recovery . The number of destroyed facilities, even basic infrastructure, is huge. Immediately after the end of hostilities and the victory of Ukraine, it will be necessary to implement thousands of reconstruction projects. Renovate schools, hospitals, build temporary housing and bring life back to destroyed cities and communities.

The third stage of this Plan is long-term transformation. It covers all the areas, from education and medicine to the green transition and the new military industry. People, economy, infrastructure – these are the 3 pillars of Ukraine's recovery.

We approach the preparation of each of these phases very holistically. Damage assessment, technical projects to recover each specific facility, there are regulatory issues, and a lot of resources will be needed for the recovery.

We are already developing an electronic map of Ukraine, where we record all the damage caused by the war. This map is constantly updated. Damages are recorded and verified from multiple angles at once.

Thanks to the advanced digital tools developed by the Government and our e-government application called DIIA, every citizen of Ukraine is able to submit information about destroyed home. About 250,000 applications are already in the databases. Further, local authorities verify this data, and also supplement the database with information on destroyed and damaged social and critical infrastructure facilities – schools, hospitals, kindergartens, boiler houses, administrative buildings. Everything is recorded across the electronic registers.

In parallel with this, the Office of the President of Ukraine, our team at the Government, as well as our partners from the Kyiv School of Economics are conducting a damage assessment according to international standards.

Today, Ukraine's direct infrastructure losses amount to more than 100 billion dollars. More than 1,200 educational institutions, more than 200 hospitals, thousands of kilometers of gas pipelines, water mains and power grids, roads and railways were either destroyed or damaged. And we count every site. Afterwards, there will be a reconstruction project for each of those sites.

The map of the destroyed facilities and the damage caused allows us to build the system that I was talking about. There are two key approaches to such recovery – regional and parametric.

What is a regional approach?

It was already offered to our international partners by the President of Ukraine. It contains the regional responsibility of the friends of Ukraine for the individual regional recovery plan.

As I have already said, our principle is – united in the struggle, and united in recovery. Our partners will also have access to the map to be able to see what was destroyed. Based on this map, together with the Government, experts and local authorities, they will prepare technical projects for the reconstruction and transformation of the regions.

It is not just about allocating funds for a destroyed school or broken road. It is about partners bringing their unique experience and understanding of how to build a qualitatively new environment. How to build a new urban space, how to erect new facilities according to the best applicable standards.

This synergy will enable the transformation of the regions. Build back better is a clear and straight-forward goal that we have developed under this regional recovery principle.

The second approach is parametric. This is a sectoral principle. For example, when we run a large energy efficiency campaign or new housing construction, these campaigns will be based on European parameters. Firstly, it will translate in a new quality of recovery. Secondly, it means clear rules of the game for private investors, whom we are eager to engage in those projects. Thirdly, it will mean Ukraine’s further integration into the European Union.

We already set 24 working groups for virtually every industry. These groups are visionaries, analysts, economists, and bureaucrats. We want to write out all the plans in as much detail as possible under the circumstances we are facing.

We have already spent thousands of hours in discussions while developing our draft plan. This is how the appropriate structure of the Ukrainian recovery platform was developed – United in defending, and united in recovery.

The recovery platform that we propose to develop will consist of several levels.

The first one is a high level, where the leaders of the states will come into play. There will be a board that will be determining strategic focus areas and build vision.

The second level is the Joint Coordination Group, which will consist of government executives and decision makers from Ukraine, USA, EU, Great Britain, Poland and other partner nations.

The third level is the dedicated sectoral working groups. I have already mentioned that today there are 24 groups already in the Ukraine’s National Recovery Council. Today and in the future, we invite everyone who has experience and is willing to join these groups and start making Ukraine better.

Our team proposes to create several Recovery Offices in order to work most effectively at the same time. The head office – and our partners agree with this – should be based in Kyiv. The branch offices will be located in Washington, Brussels, London and other cities.

The entire Draft Recovery Plan was designed on the basis of a number of key principles. Such cross-cutting focus areas, once abided by, will allow us to effectively change and rebuild the country. In particular, those include:

• Highest security for people and business.

• Build back better. Our goal is not just to restore glass and concrete, but to build a new country .

• European integration and compliance with the candidacy criteria, and in the near future – I'm sure – with our EU membership.

• Rule of law.

• Transparency and accountability in recovery.

• Ukraine’s recovery with the greatest engagement of green technology.

• Digital tools in recovery and overwhelming digitalization.

• Attracting private equity in the recovery process.

A very important message that I want to capture today is about transparency, openness and accountability.

We involve all international partners in this process in order to demonstrate that the money allocated for recovery is used as efficiently, honestly and fairly as possible.

Already, part of the funds that international partners provide to Ukraine go through the World Bank’s Trust Fund and the Administrative Account of the IMF.

This makes it possible to enhance accountability and show exactly how these funds are used, who they go to, and how they help Ukraine and ordinary Ukrainians.

We initiate an Advisory group to be set up, which will be composed of European politicians, American and European economists with renowned names. These are the professionals who will help not only to build the strategy, but also to demonstrate our highest degree of openness.

Last but not least, who should pay for the Recovery Plan, which is already estimated at 750 billion dollars.

We believe that the key source of recovery funding should be the seized assets of russia and russian oligarchs. The russian authorities unleashed this bloody war. They caused this massive destruction, and they should be held accountable for it.

According to various estimates, russia’s frozen assets range from 300 to 500 billion dollars. Some countries have already started not just freezing but also seizing those assets. Thanks to Germany for the first steps! We are grateful to Canada and the USA for the drafting their national legislations. I am sure that all partner countries will join this process and uphold this justice.

The second source of recovery is grants and soft loans from international financial organizations and partner countries.

The third and fourth sources are private sector investments, as well as off-budget contributions from private individuals and corporations. The United24 has already worked very effectively in Ukraine. We are grateful to everyone who contributed and encourage you not to stop this support.

The fifth source of recovery is Ukraine's own budgetary funds.

All these parameters, resources, approaches and principles are already enshrined in our Draft Recovery Plan. Hundreds of pages and thousands of hours spent on its preparation. Today we are starting a big discussion about the Recovery Plan for Ukraine.

Thank you and your nations for the unwavering support for our country.

Thank you for the today's event that marks the beginning of the discussion on the Recovery Plan for Ukraine.

Ukraine will prevail! And we will rebuild everything! After all, we are united in defending and united in recovery.