Check against delivery

REMARKS 

by Ambassador of Ukraine to Romania H.E. Ihor PROKOPCHUK 

at the conference 

“REBUILDING UKRAINE IN THE NEW TRANSATLANTIC PARADIGM: CHALLENGES FOR THE EUROPEAN BUSINESS 

ENVIRONMENT IN THE TRUMP 2.0 ERA”

(Bucharest, 7 April 2025, 10:00)

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to take part in this conference on the topic of rebuilding and recovery of Ukraine in a series of such events originally launched in January 2023.

At the outset I would like to express my gratitude to the President of Romania-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce Prof. Dr Nasty Vladoiu and his staff for their commitment and dedication in advancing the prospects of successful economic co-operation between our two countries. I thank all participants of today’s conference – from the presidential administration, the government, the diplomatic corps and, in particular, representatives of businesses because the private and commercial sector will eventually have to be in the “driving seat”.

Today I would like to sharpen focus on just a few principal points.

First point, about putting an end to this brutal war and establishment  of just and lasting peace. Whereas the dictator in Kremlin for weeks now has been making repeated pronouncements about peace, his troops continue to sow death and destruction sparing noone. Yesterday was the national day of mourning in Ukraine, today we open a book of condolences at the Ukrainian Embassy in Bucharest. On Friday russia’s so-called high precision ballistic missile struck a residential area with a children’s playground in Kryvyi Rig – killing 18 people, among them 9 children, and wounding over 75 people, including children. Of those 9 killed children, the youngest Tymofiy was 3 years old, the eldest Nikita was 17. This is the evil that emanates from Moscow’s disregard for human life, obsession with domination and territorial expansionism. I wish to kindly ask all present here to remember with a minute of silence the victims of this barbaric attack and all innocent victims of this brutal war waged by russia.

Noone is interested in peace as much as Ukraine is interested. This peace has to be genuine  which means – comprehensive, just and lasting. Ukraine accepted the U.S. proposals on a provisional unconditional ceasefire. It has not been fulfilled yet because Russia rejected the idea. We have reached arrangements on the ceasefire and free commercial navigation in the Black Sea, but again Russia conditions them with untenable demands. The idea on ceasefire for energy and civilian facilities russians restricted only to energy infrastructure, again showing their contempt for lives and well-being of civilians.

Kremlin wants war and essentially plays games with the diplomatic track efforts. We are confident that Kremlin can be forced to serious negotiations, and this requires further strengthening of Ukraine, primarily in the military field, as well as further increase of sanctions pressure on russia.

We are grateful to Romania for standing firmly with Ukraine. Our views are fully aligned about what the genuine peace should look like. It is important that Romania participates in the Coalition of the Willing.

As the war continues, I would like to turn to all business representatives in this hall and say that Ukraine’s defence forces have specific needs in non-military items. These items matter to enable the full potential of existing resources and this is where voluntary contributions from businesses help. I kindly ask participating businesses to think about possible input and, if yes, speak to me or the Bilateral Chamber of Commerce about what we can do together.  

Second point, russia’s massive attacks do not break our will to defend ourselves and, without awaiting the end of the war, continue to rebuild and recover the country, in very close cooperation with international partners.

Let me share with you few figures reported in March by Ukraine’s Statistical Committee: compared to 2023, in 2024 the volume of construction in the housing sector grew by 16,3% to 26,6 bl hrn, in non -housing sector it grew by 35,5% to 57,7 bln hrn, in the engineering sector – by 20% to 120,4 bl hrn. Overall, the volume of last year’s construction works exceeded that of 2020.

We already see positive results stemming from Ukrainian Government’s initiatives of the past few years. Those included tax exemptions, VAT returns, state guarantees and investment protection mechanisms, compensation of capital investment spending on accompanying infrastructure, techno parks and virtual free economic zones.

To stimulate entry of foreign companies into Ukraine it is also very important what incentives their respective governments can offer. There are good practices now, which include export credit guarantees, risk insurance options and other instruments. It would be good if a package of incentives were developed by the Romanian Government to support Romanian companies in their reconstruction projects in Ukraine. We are ready to discuss the topic of Romania’s participation in recovery of Ukraine at the second G to G meeting, the conduct of which we are discussing with Romanian partners.

Now the Government of Ukraine together with Italian and other counterparts are preparing for this year’s Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 that will take place in Rome on 10-11 July 2025.

Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction priorities for 2025 encompass 9 sectors: housing – 39 projects; energy and extraction – 29 projects; transport – 82 projects; social protection and services – 42 projects; education and science – 66 projects; healthcare – 49 projects; water supply and wastewater – 23 projects; managements of explosives – 12 projects; emergency response and protection – 9 projects.

The overall funding of these priority projects for 2025 is estimated at 17,32 bl USD, secured funding now stands at 7,37 bl USD.

Dear friends,

Despite the war, the works on reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine are ongoing in the country every day. We are interested to see Romanian companies seriously examining existing options and opportunities and joining in for our shared success. I hope that discussions like today’s will be helpful on this path.

Thank you for your attention.