During a working visit to Japan Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Shinichi Kitaoka, the press service of the head of state reported on Wednesday. “Cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is extremely important for our country, especially in the context of implementing large-scale reforms that are taking place now. Recently, the government approved an action plan for the next five years. We really believe that this program will not be implemented in theory, but in practice. This includes the development of human capital and economy, European integration and improving the security and welfare of Ukrainian citizens,” Zelensky said during the meeting, adding that the implementation of this plan will create a million additional jobs in the country.
The head of state said that the priorities of the current authorities of Ukraine include launching the land market, large-scale privatization, deregulation and simplification of all procedures with the transition to online services, elimination of the shadow economy and corruption schemes, solving infrastructure problems, optimizing the tax system, quickly and comprehensively introducing European and international standards.
The president thanked the agency for supporting Ukraine under the Official Development Assistance (ODA) program.
“We appreciate the technical assistance of Japan to support democratic institutions, ensure macroeconomic stability and concessional lending for important infrastructure projects in Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
The president said that one of the striking results of Ukraine’s joint work with JICA was the successful completion of the modernization of the Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) through a soft loan. At the same time, Zelensky noted the importance of implementing the second project, namely, the modernization of the Bortnychi wastewater treatment plant, which will help prevent environmental pollution and increase the safety of people’s lives.
“I hope that in the near future a contract will be signed with the general contractor and construction work at the facility will begin from early next year,” he said.
The president announced Ukraine’s interest in continuing fruitful cooperation with JICA. Important promising infrastructure projects, in particular, may be the construction of a bridge over the Pivdenny Buh River in Mykolaiv as part of the improvement of the southern transport corridor; and preparing a project for the processing of solid household waste.
