Ukraine is asking its European partners to maximize their assistance in increasing electricity imports to 2.3 GW from 1.7 GW today, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko has said.
“We need a political and technical decision to increase electricity imports to 2.3 GW,” she said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC-2024) in Berlin on Tuesday.
Svyrydenko noted that the energy issue will be the main topic during the two days of the conference, as Russia has already destroyed half of Ukraine’s generating capacity, or about 9 GW, which is enough to provide electricity to 11 million German citizens.
According to her, in addition to increased imports, the three other priorities in this area are rapid restoration where physically possible, the commissioning of up to 1 GW of capacity this year and another 4 GW over the next two years, and loans.
“We desperately need equipment from your decommissioned power plants and direct financial support,” the First Deputy Prime Minister said.
She added that European, especially German, companies are global technological leaders in this field, and the first contracts will be signed at this conference, but more active participation of international financial organizations and expert credit agencies around the world is needed.
Svyrydenko emphasized that the second key task is to ensure reliable air defense.
“We see a direct dependence of economic recovery on the quality of air defense. Thanks to the protection of our ports, we were able to increase exports to 13 million tons of cargo (per month). This is almost the pre-war level,” the First Deputy Prime Minister explained.
Speaking about reforms, Svyrydenko noted that replacing the word “reforms” with the word “recovery” in the title of the conference after the start of the full-scale invasion means recognizing that the reforms combined in the reform matrix are necessary but not sufficient to accelerate economic growth.
“The analysis shows that reforms alone are not enough for economic growth, the only factor that can stimulate long-term growth is investment, it is private sector participation.
If Ukraine wants to have a chance to catch up with the EU countries in terms of GDP, we need investments or technology transfer in the amount of $10 to $13 billion a year over the next 10 years. We need investors to come to Ukraine now, and not wait until the war is over, because this is a prerequisite for rapid economic growth and future victory,” the First Deputy Prime Minister summarized.
