Italy in the field for the reconstruction of Ukraine. About 600 Italian and 150 Ukrainian companies will meet on Wednesday 26 April in Rome, at the Palazzo dei Congressi, to sign agreements in the sectors of rail transport, the environment and energy. “Italy wants to be a protagonist with its businesses. It will be a way to demonstrate solidarity, not only from a military point of view, but also solidarity on the part of our country towards a people at war, who are defending their freedom” , said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who will introduce the conference together with his Kiev colleague Dmytro Kuleba, while the closing is entrusted to the premiers, Giorgia Meloni and Denys Shmyhal. A video speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected.
With the conference, Italy, Ukraine’s third trading partner after Germany and Poland, with trade that amounted to 5.4 billion euros in 2021, wants to “systematize” its commitment to Ukraine, beyond beyond military aid: reconstruction was then intertwined with support for the country’s entry into the EU and with the reforms needed to join the Union. And Italian companies, from which “an extraordinary response” has come, can contribute to modernizing the Ukrainian economic structure, based on the ‘build back better’ principle, those who participated in the organization of the conference explained to Adnkronos, following those of Berlin and Paris in recent months and which precedes that of London in June, but which represents “for us the beginning of a journey, in view of the presidency of the G7 that we will have next year and which will allow us to have a leading role” under the International Donor Platform for Reconstruction.
Seven sectors in which Italian companies are called to invest, immediately, for the so-called “fast recovery”, for the reconstruction of infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the war, and then in the medium and long term. “It is good to position ourselves now”, this is the message to the companies, which have accepted the invitation, despite the concern for the ongoing conflict. So we start with infrastructure and transport, then energy and the environment, agribusiness, health, digital, space and steel, with enormous opportunities for our businesses.
“We will always be at Ukraine’s side, also in the reconstruction of the country to favor its EU accession process – reiterated for his part the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso -. Indeed, in some cases it is necessary to act immediately , such as for the rehabilitation of power and irrigation plants and for the planting of crops”.
“From the Rome conference we expect on the one hand that companies can make a contribution to the reconstruction of our country and on the other that they can facilitate integration into the European market”, said sources in Kiev, acknowledging “the driving role” that Italy had in granting the status of candidate country to the EU and which they hope it will maintain also in the accession process.
Also present at the event on Wednesday 26 April will be the minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti and of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini together with their counterparts from Kiev, as well as the president of Confindustria Carlo Bonomi. The conference was also attended by representatives of Cassa depositi e prestiti, Sace, Ice and Simest, as well as those of the main international financial institutions including the World Bank, the EIB and the EBRD. According to the latest estimates updated in March by the Kiev government, the World Bank, the EU Commission and the UN, 411 billion dollars will be needed to rebuild Ukraine.
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