On Tuesday, December 13, Paris is hosting two conferences in support of Ukraine with the dual objective of orchestrating immediate international aid to the Ukrainian population, the daily target of Russian attacks in the middle of winter, and preparing for the country’s reconstruction.
The first meeting takes place in the morning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. baptized “Solidarity of the Ukrainian people”it is held in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmyhal. “We synchronized our positions before (…) the support conference in Paris”Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter on Sunday after an interview with Mr. Macron.
After the meetings in Lugano, Warsaw and Berlin in recent months, this aims to neutralize the strategy implemented since October by Russia, which consists of attacking civilian infrastructure to make the Ukrainian population suffer and weaken resistance.
Forty-seven countries represented but not China
Speakers will focus on five fundamental areas – energy, water, food, health and transport – to enable Ukraine to keep essential infrastructure in working order.
“The immediate objective, (…) is that the Ukrainian electricity network does not collapse, that we do not have a “blackout” of several weeks, that the water does not freeze in the pipes” because the latter would then be out of service “until summer”, we explained at the Elysée and at the Quai d’Orsay. The effort must focus on restoring the infrastructure after each Russian bombardment so that the population can get through the winter, and also keep their morale up. Quantified announcements are expected from the French president.
In addition to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak by videoconference. “Heads of State, Heads of Government, Ministers” of forty-seven countries will be represented, specified the Elysée.
China will be absent from the conference, a diplomatic source said. On the other hand, ambassadors from the Gulf countries and India will be present, as a symbol of solidarity that is expressed beyond European or North American borders. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will also be present, as will the World Bank through regional officials, with no further announcements expected from them.
Five hundred French companies invited
The conference will then continue at the Pierre Mendès-France conference center of the Ministry of the Economy and will take the form of a “bilateral for the resilience and reconstruction of Ukraine”. It is a question of mobilizing French companies for reconstruction. Some 500 French companies, from the behemoths of the CAC 40 to digital start-ups, were invited for an exchange, this time focused on the long term.
After a new speech by the Ukrainian President and a speech by Emmanuel Macron on site in the presence of Mr. Chmyhal, round tables will discuss the sectors of infrastructure, technology and digital, health, energy and agri-food.
Although there is no ceasefire or even the prospect of an end to the war, “Ukrainians asked to talk about reconstruction”, argued the Elysée. Some areas of the country hit from the start of the war are now in a situation of reconstruction and the work that awaits Ukraine will take years.
The cost of the war for Ukraine is immense. “We had reported in early September that the cost would be around 350 billion, but that only covered the period from the start of the war to June 1”, reminded Agence France-Presse (AFP) Anna Bjerd, Vice-President of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia. A new estimate will be published “early 2023” and it will undoubtedly be much higher, she warned.
Zelensky asks for weapons and gas
The Ukrainian economy has already shrunk by some 33% as a result of the war that started on February 24. “With the recent attacks in the country, the contraction is going to be stronger, we can expect it to be closer to 40%”, also estimated the head of the Washington institution. She did not decide for next year due to a “great uncertainty”.
On Monday, the leaders of the G7, meeting in a virtual summit, decided to set up a ” platform “ for “coordinate financial aid” to Ukraine, announced German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Volodymyr Zelensky urged the G7 countries to provide his country with more weapons to fight against Russia, as well as gas to withstand the harsh winter. The Ukrainian President has also proposed the organization of a “world peace summit” for “decide how and when we can implement the points of the Ukrainian peace formula”.
However, he did not give more details on the date on which this summit could take place, nor with whom exactly and under what conditions. In mid-November, he proposed a ten-point peace plan, from the restoration of territorial integrity to the fate of prisoners, including food security in Ukraine.
Olena Zelenska was received by Brigitte Macron at the Elysée
On the eve of the double conference in Paris on aid to be provided to Ukraine, Brigitte Macron received the Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska on Monday at the Elysee Palace.
“They gave an update on Operation Cigogne, which allowed the reception of Ukrainian children suffering from cancer in France and on the 20,000 children attending school in France” since the beginning of the Russian intervention, on February 24, specified the entourage of the wife of the French president.
They will go to a school in 3 on Tuesday.e district of Paris which welcomes children from families who have fled the war, according to this source. “They also discussed the foundation that Mme Zelenska launched » to collect humanitarian aid and allow the reconstruction of hospitals in eastern Ukraine, it was said.
“The two first ladies know each other well”underlined an adviser to Brigitte Macron, recalling that President Volodymyr Zelensky, had made in France, in June 2019, one of his very first trips abroad after his election and that the two women have seen each other regularly since.