A meeting was held at the level of the governments of Ukraine and Germany with the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze. Ukraine was represented by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, and Oleksii Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities and Territories.

The meeting focused on coordinating joint projects between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, as well as on discussing priorities and action plans.

In particular, an important agreement was reached to allocate additional funds for the purchase of mobile heating systems.

The parties also emphasised the strengthening of the role of local self-government in the restoration and further support of the decentralisation reform by Germany.

Oleksii Kuleba thanked for the financial support provided by Germany in the restoration of the affected communities and territories of Ukraine, and noted the successful organisation of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC-2024) in Berlin, which outlined the leading role of communities and regions in the restoration.

“Germany has become the largest donor to Ukraine, providing support worth EUR 37 billion. Thanks to German assistance, Ukraine’s energy supply system remains functional. We highly appreciate the friendship and strategic partnership with Germany in the recovery of the affected communities and regions of Ukraine. I would also like to thank you for the transfer of cogeneration units to Kharkiv, which is our outpost city,” said Oleksii Kuleba.

Oleksii Kuleba also called on German partners to join the work of the Recovery Operational Group, which was launched to strengthen cooperation with members of the Ukraine Donor Platform (UDP) and special representatives of partner governments. The Operational Group will exchange information on needs and coordinate projects to speed up and improve their implementation.

The key priorities for 2025 are as follows:

• continuation of the decentralisation reform;
• implementing specific projects on the ground to provide adequate housing conditions for those in need, including IDPs;
• solving the problem of ensuring constant access to clean water for residents of the South of Ukraine, namely, the construction of a water supply system in Mykolaiv and Mykolaiv region;
• ensuring the heating season, especially in the frontline regions, namely, supplying cogeneration units for communities in Sumy region;
• construction of the second and third levels of protection at energy facilities.

“Today, more than 10% of Ukraine’s housing stock has been destroyed or damaged, affecting almost 2 million families. More than 4.6 million of our citizens have become internally displaced. Therefore, providing social housing for the most vulnerable categories of citizens is also a priority. We have a request for more than USD 1.6 billion to implement housing reconstruction projects in 2025,” Oleksii Kuleba added.

A separate issue is supporting the stable functioning of the Ukrainian sea corridor, protecting ports and ships, which is a guarantee of global food security.

For their part, the deputy ministers who took part in the meeting outlined the main areas of work in line with the Government’s priorities and European integration processes. In particular, it was about adopting the State Regional Development Strategy until 2027, which is part of the Ukraine Facility and meets the recommendations of the European Commission in the field of regional policy. The Ministry plans to adapt the Strategy in line with the public investment management reform and wartime challenges, taking into account the socio-economic division of Ukraine into three macro-regions – frontline, central and western regions.

Special attention was paid to the cooperation with GIZ and their contribution to strengthening the energy sustainability of Ukraine through the transfer of cogeneration units to the most affected communities.

The Ministry expressed its interest in continuing bilateral cooperation in supporting energy efficiency reform and exchanging experience in the development and implementation of state policy in this area.

As for cooperation in the transport sector, the Ukrainian side expressed interest in concluding an intergovernmental agreement to increase the fleet of electric locomotives.

The Ministry is also interested in continuing cooperation between the communities of Ukraine and the EU. In particular, to increase the capacity of local governments to manage their own recovery and development, prepare quality projects and integrate the local investment component as part of the public investment reform.