Zelensky thanks C8 leaders, businesses and communities for agreements at Carpathian Eight Summit
President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the leaders of the C8 countries, businesses, and representatives of Carpathian communities for their strong participation, as well as for promising projects and agreements reached at the Carpathian Eight summit.
According to Ukrinform, he said this in a Facebook post.
"The first summit of the Carpathian Eight, where we launched the Carpathian Integration Initiative. May the EU's Carpathian macro-region remain strong. And may this format support us on our path to joining the European Union," the head of state noted.
"I thank all the leaders of the C8 countries, businesses, and representatives of our Carpathian communities for their strong presence and for the promising projects and agreements. The potential is measured in billions of euros and mutual growth. It is important that we turn this potential into reality," Zelensky stressed.
According to him, "we will certainly bring in additional resources and opportunities to support cross-border cooperation between communities. And the Carpathians have their own specifics here: mountain communities, and therefore mountain roads, and their own social and environmental challenges."
As the President emphasized, many of these issues can only be resolved together with neighboring countries, and he expects joint work with neighbors to continue expanding.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said in a Facebook post that Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Serbia should scale up their cooperation, including by attracting investment and participating in Ukraine's reconstruction.
"At the Carpathian Economic Forum, we've got over 50 investment and trade projects from all C8 countries — in oil and gas and energy sectors, infrastructure and culture — worth a combined total of over $1 billion. The next step is to move ahead with implementation," Koretskyi wrote.
He noted that during the forum, together with representatives of the governments, regions, and communities of the C8 countries, businesses, and international financial institutions, Ukrainian officials discussed the Carpathians as a unified economic space.
"Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Czechia, Austria and Serbia already share an economy joined by production chains, energy links, transport routes and ties across our regions and communities. Now it's time for us to scale that up," the Prime Minister stressed.
According to him, the countries of the Carpathian Eight should focus on three areas of cooperation: developing trade and mutual investment; attracting major international capital through joint regional investment platforms; and involving C8 countries in the reconstruction of Ukraine as a joint economic project for the entire region.
Koretskyi stressed that the Carpathians need their own strategic framework modeled on those of other EU macro-regions. Therefore, he said the goal of the Carpathian Integration Initiative is to launch an EU Macro-Regional Strategy for the Carpathians.
As Ukrinform reported, Zelensky announced the launch of the new Carpathian Eight format, or C8, comprising Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Serbia.
During the Carpathian Economic Forum, representatives of the C8 member countries presented a joint investment portfolio consisting of 95 projects worth approximately EUR 40 billion.