On November 12, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and the Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations and Forecasting Maroš Šefčovič held an online meeting.

The parties discussed the ways to intensify cooperation between Ukraine and the European Commission in the field of critical raw materials (CRMs) and build a strategic partnership between the EU and Ukraine in this area.

Denys Shmyhal stressed that the main goal of Ukraine in the field of economic cooperation with the European Union is the further integration of Ukraine into the EU internal market, as enshrined in the provisions of the Association Agreement. He noted that Ukraine supports the European Union's intentions to develop a strategic partnership with other countries.

"We are considering opportunities to develop approaches jointly with the EU to use Ukraine's potential in the extraction industry to help the EU and together build globally competitive value-added production chains in Europe," stressed the Prime Minister of Ukraine.

According to Denys Shmyhal, it is critical for Ukraine to initiate a joint project on the geological study of mineral ore mining and during 2021 to prepare for auction several deposits of minerals that are included in the strategic list of the European Union.

The Prime Minister of Ukraine also welcomed the launch of the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA): "I assure that Ukrainian stakeholders will join the Alliance's activities and establish mutually beneficial cooperation with European partners."

Denys Shmyhal suggested applying an innovative cluster approach to the development of cooperation in the raw materials sector: "We could consider building a plant in Ukraine to produce batteries for electric cars or electric bus manufacturing that could be supplied to European countries and other world markets."

According to the Prime Minister, Ukraine is also ready to consider launching a joint project to support Ukraine to verify the available information on explored and potential reserves of critical raw materials.