The Ministry of Reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine together with five countries: the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain and Canada have launched a common international fund "Partnership for a Strong Ukraine," Interfax reported.
The volume of the fund is 35 million pounds sterling. Its main goal is to support the long-term development of communities affected by Russia's armed aggression.
"We understand how important and, most importantly, timely it is to start such projects right here, right now. It is important for our people in the east and south of our state, it is important for all Ukrainians," the Deputy Prime Minister said about the fund. Minister for the reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk.
Charge d'Affaires of the United States in Ukraine Christina Quinn emphasized that the situation with the possibility of further aggression from the Russian Federation contributes to the consolidation of all members of the fund.
"When we started developing the program about a year ago, we did not know that we would have to start it under such difficult, dangerous circumstances. Now we see a great opportunity to renew our support to the people, to the government of Ukraine. It's very important that the U.S., through USAID, increases its contribution to this partnership from $5 million to $10 million," she said.
Among the pilot projects for which the funds will be used in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions are:
improving energy efficiency;
countering misinformation;
promoting inclusive dialogue;
streamlining government services;
spreading economic opportunity.
"This project is very important. It draws on human values to support the men, women and children in Ukraine who have suffered the consequences of the armed aggression in the east, the temporary occupation of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukraine and its people have shown so much resilience from 2014. And they deserve our support. Ukraine's security and stability is our security and stability," the Swiss ambassador said.
The budget of the first phase of the program implementation by March 2024 will amount to 1.3 billion hryvnias.