PM Shmyhal, EBRD leadership discuss investment in construction of Ukrainian roads
Shmyhal thanked the EBRD for its consistent support of Ukraine and noted that the EBRD "has been and still remains a major institutional investor in Ukraine's economy," the Government portal reported.
"The year of 2019 was the most successful for Ukraine in terms of cooperation with the EBRD both regarding volumes of annual commitments and the number of projects. Last year, more than 50 projects, including commercial regional ones, were launched in Ukraine with the support of the EBRD. I would like us to preserve the gained pace without reducing the performance," Shmyhal said.
Moreover, the PM added that the previous year Ukraine had demonstrated a record takedown of EBRD resource - more than EUR 950 million, while the volume of operating assets increased by almost 20%.
"Undoubtedly, we want and strive to reach the annual volume of EBRD investments in Ukraine at the level of EUR 1 billion euros. The purpose of the projects financed by the Bank fully meets the requirements of the national economy and European integration strategy of Ukraine," he noted.
In response, EBRD Vice President Alain Pilloux stressed that Ukraine is among the priorities of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. According to him, the EBRD is ready to implement a number of projects together with Ukraine and "to move on with their components."
According to the Vice President of the EBRD, this applies to the reconstruction of the Kyiv-Odesa highway and the construction of a bypass road in Lviv. Also, according to him, the EBRD has embarked on considering lending to Ukrainian regions for the construction of roads of regional importance, starting with Dnipro and Kherson.
For his part, Shmyhal expressed interest in the implementation of these projects, noting that Ukraine is looking for options for road infrastructure development in the regions and cooperation with the EBRD is among the priorities for the Government.
Apart from that, the parties focused on energy industry development, improvement of corporate governance in state-owned enterprises and banks, implementation of the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Ukraine and other topical issues.
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