pass promises to concrete projects. A few words were enough for Volodymyr Zelensky to summarize the stakes of the Conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine, which opened on Wednesday June 21 in London. For two days, some sixty national delegations, several hundred business leaders, most of the major political, financial and humanitarian institutions must strive to give an operational turn to their financial commitments.
“Every day, Russian aggression brings new ruins, thousands and thousands of homes destroyed, industries devastated, lives burned”recalled the Ukrainian president, who was speaking from a distance, at the opening of this Ukraine Recovery Conference, second of its kind since the beginning of the war. The first, organized last year in Lugano, Switzerland, notably made it possible to define the Guidelines reconstruction, the cost of which the World Bank estimates – still provisional – at 411 billion dollars (375 billion euros). Major principles have been set out there to guide the implementation of international aid, initiatives have been taken to facilitate the transfer of funds, but the operational framework remains unclear. At the end of February, this aid amounted to just over 150 billion euros, according to Kiel Institute of World Economy.
In London, the United States announced on Wednesday a new donation of 1.3 billion dollars for the rehabilitation of essential infrastructure. The United Kingdom intends to allocate three billion dollars in guaranteed loans over three years for the restoration of Ukrainian public services. Germany and France have pledged respectively to provide humanitarian aid of 381 million euros and to release 40 million euros to re-equip the healthcare system. On Tuesday, the European executive had also asked member states for an extension of 50 billion euros (17 billion in donations, 33 billion in loans) over four years.
“The reconstruction has already begun”
Institutional investors are counting in particular on the mobilization of the private sector. The coordination platform between companies and international donors Ukraine Business Compact has just been launched in this direction : it is not only a question of preparing “the aftermath” but of meeting the immediate needs of the tens of thousands of Ukrainians deprived of roofs, electricity or running water.
“Why rebuild when the country is still at war? Because there are urgent needs, quite simply, and because in certain areas, we can act now,” summarizes Romain Desthieux, director of the Ukrainian branch of Business France. “The reconstruction has already started. It began with the first destructions and, in this context, there are innovative French solutions which not only make it possible to rebuild, but to do it differently, in a sustainable and thoughtful way”, he continues, emphasizing the fact that the kyiv branch, of which he recently took over the management, has never ceased its activities.
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