Aid to Ukraine is very different from other humanitarian projects and should largely be aimed at helping to develop private businesses and stimulating investment, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said at Ukraine Recovery Conference in London on Wednesday.
“When providing the assistance to Ukraine, we must make sure that local businesses will benefit. Therefore, we announced a donation of EUR 25 million to provide more insurances and guarantee mechanisms so that companies are willing to invest,” she said.
Huitfeldt said this is part of the Norwegian program worth EUR 7 billion for Ukraine.
She also noted the importance of a sound legal system, commitment to fighting corruption and burden-sharing when it comes to investment risk, and cited the decentralization reform as positive.
Earlier at the conference, Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis announced the signing on that day of an agreement to launch an experimental military insurance scheme. He said the EU is also working on a pilot project for export credit guarantee schemes to Ukraine.
