The initiative for coal regions in transition in the Western Balkans and Ukraine, led by the European Commission, will help them attract funding from a number of international financial institutions (IFIs), according to the announcement of the annual meeting of the initiative on June 23-25, made by the Delegation of the European Union in Ukraine. “The aim of the event is to support open, multi-stakeholder dialogue on coal phase out and just transition towards sustainable energy sources in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine,” according to the announcement.
As noted in the EU Delegation, “the initiative will help coal regions access financing for transition projects or programmes, based on various sources available from the European Commission, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the European Investment Bank.”
In addition, the initiative contains four other pillars of support. This is a comprehensive stakeholder dialogue, an exchange program between coal mining regions, trainings by the Coal Region Learning Academy and technical assistance.
As stated on the website of the European Commission, the initiative for coal regions with economies in transition in the Western Balkans and Ukraine was launched in December 2020 and aims to help countries and regions move from coal to a carbon-neutral economy. It will support coal regions in the EU’s neighboring countries, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine.
The initiative is managed by the European Commission and collaborates with six international partners: the World Bank, the Energy Community Secretariat, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management of Poland (NFOSiGW), and the College of Europe in Natolin.
The chief operating officer of U.S.-based Trident Acquisitions Corp., the ex-head of Smart-Holding, Oleksiy Tymofeyev, launches a challenge to attract investment in Ukraine if the Servant of the People party fulfills the promised reforms. “If Zelensky’s team fulfills its checklist of reforms, I pledge to personally bring to Ukraine at least $100 million in direct investment per year. Each has its own Ironman [the triathlon competition]. I have one,” he said on Facebook.
The candidate for people’s deputy from the Servant of the People party, David Arakhamiya [also knows as David Braun], who was appointed member of the Ukroboronprom supervisory board by the president of Ukraine in July, noted in his commentary to Tymofeyev “I’ll hold you to that!”
Chairman of the board of ATF Bank (Kazakhstan), the ex-director for business development at Nova Poshta, Serhiy Kovalenko, also said in comments that he is ready to support the initiative with an investment amount of $50 million.
The manager of the asset development and valuation department of DTEK Oil&Gas, Yuriy Moroz, in turn, wrote that he would run the Ironman competition if Tymofeyev attracts the promised investments.
