European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel said it is necessary to attract private investment both from Ukraine itself and from the European Union to rebuild post-war Ukraine, for which favorable conditions must be created.
He said this on Thursday in Stockholm at the end of a meeting of the European Council at the level of development ministers. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kurbakov also attended the meeting by video link.
“It is clear that we must prepare ourselves for recovery and reconstruction, which go hand in hand with the process of reform on the way to European membership. These processes reinforce each other. Ukraine needs to move forward on fighting corruption, reforming the judicial system, which will increase the efficiency of spending in Ukraine and create a predictable and fair economic environment to attract private investors. This must be mobilized to ensure that the private sector can play a key role for civil society and local authorities. We must use our funding to attract private investment, both from Ukraine and the EU,” Borrell said of his vision.
The EU high representative stated that the reconstruction of Ukraine will be “the next huge task.” “And the longer this war goes on, the more destruction there will be and the more work we will have to do to support Ukraine in its reconstruction. It is also very clear that Russia must make up for the incredible destruction and loss it has caused Ukraine and its people. It must pay the price for rebuilding Ukraine. To do this, we are working on how we can use and mobilize frozen Russian assets in accordance with international law,” he added.
Borrell recalled that during Wednesday’s informal meeting of defense ministers, defense chiefs discussed military support for Ukraine and today with development ministers discussed rebuilding Ukraine. “Those two things go together. We have to help Ukraine to avoid destruction and we have to support Ukraine to rebuild it. But the less destruction, the better for reconstruction efforts. So we have to send generators to Ukraine to produce electricity and we have to send missiles to prevent Russia from destroying them,” he detailed.
Referring to the participation in the meeting of Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Kurbakov, the High Representative said that he “spoke about his vision of priorities.” “It is absolutely clear that we must continue to support Ukraine to win this war,” Borrell stressed.
INVESTMENT, Josep Borrel, RECONSTRUCTION
