Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva held a phone conversation with State Secretary to Prime Minister of Sweden Karin Wallensteen. The interlocutors exchanged information on the measures taken by Ukraine and Sweden to counteract COVID-19 and agreed on the need to coordinate appropriate steps to protect the health of the citizens of both countries. They noted the importance of organizing flights to return Ukrainians to their homeland, the last of which was made the day before. The Ukrainian party thanked Sweden for its contribution to the fight against coronavirus, including via the WHO channels, the UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19 and the EU structures.
Sweden's support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and the inappropriateness of using the pandemic to weaken sanctions and restrictive measures applied as a result of their violation were highly appreciated. The Ukrainian party supported Sweden's future OSCE chairmanship in 2021 and expressed willingness to discuss important initiatives in this regard during the bilateral consultations scheduled for the near future.
Ihor Zhovkva informed Karin Wallensteen of the current situation in Donbas, paying special attention to blocking and non-implementation of a number of important steps: ceasefire, disengagement of troops, ensuring full access of the OSCE SMM to the temporarily occupied territories and access of humanitarian organizations to detained persons.
The Ukrainian party thanked the Kingdom of Sweden for providing important technical assistance at the bilateral level and informed of the latest steps in the reform of the Ukrainian legislation.
The Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine confirmed the invariability of our country's European integration course and informed the State Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sweden of the main priorities in this area. In particular, discussing the prospects of holding the forthcoming Eastern Partnership summit, Ihor Zhovkva emphasized that the agenda of this event should be as ambitious as possible and provide for the consolidation of the European perspectives of our country. The Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine also thanked for the decision taken by the European Commission to provide Ukraine with 1.2 billion euros of additional macro-financial assistance and expressed hope that the procedures for its allocation would be completed as soon as possible.
The parties agreed to intensify the bilateral political dialogue after the end of the pandemic and to facilitate the active development of trade and economic cooperation.