LONDON: Foreign donors have pledged sixty billion euros (66 billion dollars) of new financial support for Ukraine, the United Kingdom said Thursday, as an international conference to fund the war-hit country’s reconstruction ended.
The British foreign minister James Cleverly said that in this conference, sixty billion euros are announced in support of Ukraine.
Cleverly said that the pledges from governments and international organisations target helping Ukraine in the short- and medium-term, AFP reported.
He added that this conference provides the medium-term predictable help that will unlock the macro-economic stability that Kyiv needs and efforts were now focused on unlocking the massive potential of the private sector.
Denys Shmygal, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, attended the conference who told delegates that they were starting to rebuild Ukraine this year, and they will not be waiting for the end of the war. He also thanked them for their financial support.
He said that Ukraine was much closer to fully mobilising the 14.1 billion dollars it needed. He was referring to a World Bank (WB) estimate of what is urgently needed.
Rejuvenation of Ukrainian economy
In the medium term, more than 400 billion dollars would be required to rejuvenate the Ukrainian economy, according to estimates.
Shmygal also lauded the commitment of “almost all” of the delegations present in supporting the idea that Moscow must pay for its crimes and the destruction it has brought to Ukraine.
He urged that a compensation mechanism should be devised that would allow the frozen assets of Russia to be used to rebuild Ukraine.
One of the conference’s main objectives was to involve the private sector by implementing mechanisms to guarantee investments in Ukraine, whose military is currently in the midst of a counter-offensive against Russian troops.
Cleverly said that almost 500 companies from forty-two countries have pledged to play their role in rebuilding Ukraine.
