Svitlana Grynchuk, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, and Sameh Wahba, World Bank’s Regional Director for Sustainable Development at the Europe and Central Asia region, discussed key issues of the environmental agenda.

The key points were as follows:

• Svitlana Grynchuk told the World Bank team about Ukraine’s European integration reforms. Aspects of the negotiation process and, in particular, preparations for the screening sessions were also discussed. The parties agreed to continue and strengthen cooperation in the existing areas and to agree on ways to further support our initiatives by the World Bank.
• Waste management. “We are interested in developing a hazardous waste management project. It is designed to help Ukraine prevent environmental impacts from substances such as persistent organic pollutants, polychlorinated biphenyls, mercury and asbestos. As part of the project, the partners plan to provide Ukraine with methodological and technical assistance in determining the amount of such waste generated and its effective management. The project budget is almost USD 8 million. We are interested in launching pilot projects to implement this project and scaling them up in the future within Ukraine,” said Svitlana Grynchuk.
• Water policy. According to Svitlana Grynchuk, water policy reform is one of the most costly among European integration reforms, requiring a comprehensive and systematic approach. The first six-year cycle of 9 river basin management plans alone will require more than EUR 8 billion. And there are many more components of the reform. An agreement has been reached to establish cooperation with Winston Yu, World Bank’s Water Practice Manager for the Europe and Central Asia Region, to help review the concept of water policy reform in Ukraine.
• Creating a digital environmental monitoring system. “I hope that the World Bank’s experience will help us create a digital system for environmental monitoring. We agreed to move to the technical level of discussing this possibility,” the Minister said.

Svitlana Grynchuk thanked Sameh Wahba, Robert Sohm and other colleagues from the World Bank for their willingness to strengthen cooperation. As we complete the preparatory processes, we are opening a new chapter in the development of environmental projects.