Ukraine, U.S. in talks on launching Reconstruction Investment Fund before year-end

This was told to Reuters by First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko of Ukraine, who is on a visit to Washington, Ukrinform reports.

On Wednesday, Svyrydenko held meetings with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant and the Development Finance Corporation, which will be a partner of the Fund.

"We discussed very concrete steps how to make this fund operational during this year," she said.

According to the official, the inaugural meeting of the fund is scheduled for next month.

"So we plan to have the first board meeting of this fund in July and we will discuss what will be the seed capital to start operating this fund. And actually, too, we should adopt the investment strategy for this fund for the next few years,” Svyrydenko added.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on April 30, Ukraine and the United States signed an agreement on the establishment of the Reconstruction Investment Fund.

On May 8, the Verkhovna Rada approved Bill 0309 “On Ratification of the Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the United States of America on the Establishment of the American-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund.” The legislative initiative was backed by 338 lawmakers.

On May 12, President Volodymyr Zelensky put the new legislation into force.