Financial and humanitarian support for Ukraine, investments in recovery and bilateral cooperation were discussed during a meeting between First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko and Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Head of the Office of International Affairs under the President of the United Arab Emirates, H.E. Mariam Almheiri.

"russia continues to terrorise the civilian Ukrainian population by attacking critical infrastructure and residential areas, resulting in numerous casualties and destruction. Thousands of civilians have been killed, many wounded, and nearly 100,000 civilian infrastructure objects damaged or destroyed. A few days ago, russian troops blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam, causing one of the largest man-made disasters in Europe in recent decades. As a result of another crime of the russian federation, 80 settlements were flooded, part of the flora and fauna of the Kherson region was destroyed, several million people may be left without drinking water, food security is threatened and other catastrophic consequences are expected. Ukraine will have an opportunity to overcome them only with the support of international partners," said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The Minister of Economy thanked the Government of the UAE and personally Mariam Almheiri for the humanitarian and financial support provided to Ukraine and expressed her hope for a favourable consideration of the urgent humanitarian needs of civilians in the flooded area and financial assistance to overcome the humanitarian consequences of the Kakhovka HPP disaster.

It should be noted that since russia's full-scale invasion, the UAE has sent Ukraine more than 230 tonnes of humanitarian aid (medicines, medical equipment, food) and 4 ambulances. In April of this year, the United Arab Emirates transferred USD 4 million for the construction of 10 orphanages in Ukraine. The Emirates donated USD 4 million for the construction of 10 family-type orphanages in Ukraine. To support Ukraine in overcoming the energy crisis caused by the aggressor's actions, the UAE supplied 2,500 generators to Ukraine as part of the USD 100 million humanitarian aid provided by the UAE leadership.

 The First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yuliia Svyrydenko, also noted that although the Government had managed to stabilise the financial system, Ukraine needed financial support from its partners to maintain macro-financial stability in the future.
The meeting's participants also focused on the reconstruction of Ukraine, in which the Ukrainian side invited UAE funds and companies to participate, as well as on strengthening trade cooperation between the two countries. In particular, the meeting was also attended by representatives of the UAE sovereign wealth fund (ADIA), ADQ, which owns assets in such industries as rail and air transport, port logistics, full-cycle agriculture, medicine and pharmaceutical production, energy and innovative technologies. During the meeting, the strategic vision of the Ukrainian side in the transformation of our country's economy was presented, which received extremely positive feedback from the Arab partners.

 In addition, Deputy Minister of Economy Oleksandr Hryban made a brief presentation of the concept of the Ukrainian Development Fund, which is being developed by the Ministry and the President's Office with the advisory support of the world's largest asset management company, Black Rock. Ukraine is counting on the UAE's active participation in this initiative.

 As a result, it was agreed to launch a process of analysing investment opportunities in Ukraine, to which the UAE delegation showed great interest.

 The visit also saw the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between the State Property Fund of Ukraine and Contango, a leader in providing strategic consulting services to support transformation processes, including the creation of the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Ukraine, which is being developed by the SPFU together with the Ministry of Economy.

"Ukraine undoubtedly considers the United Arab Emirates as an important economic partner in the Middle East region and shares a mutual interest in improving the balance of bilateral trade by creating the right conditions for trade, business development and investment. An important step in this direction is the launch of negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between Ukraine and the UAE. The conclusion of the Agreement will make our economies complementary, and we look forward to working together to promote trade, digital economy and investment cooperation between our countries, while practical interaction with leading strategic advisers, Contango, will allow us to adapt the best practices of the UAE and maximise the capitalisation of Ukrainian national assets," noted Yuliia Svyrydenko.