As part of her visit to the Portuguese Republic, First Lady Olena Zelenska met with President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and visited the national stand of Ukraine at the Web Summit.
During the meeting with the President of the Portuguese Republic, the wife of the Ukrainian President thanked for comprehensive assistance to Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation.
"I am especially grateful for the shelter Portugal provides to Ukrainians who were forced to leave their homes and flee from the horrors of war. It is very important that Ukrainians have access to free services for job search, language adaptation, medical treatment, communication, and education for children," the First Lady said.
Olena Zelenska discussed with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa the possibility of Portugal's participation in the reconstruction of Ukraine.
"In this context, the decision of the Portuguese government to participate in the reconstruction of schools and preschool institutions in Ukraine, in particular in the Zhytomyr region, is very valuable for us. I expect that the start of implementation of the relevant projects will be possible in the near future," said the wife of the President of Ukraine.
In addition, on the third day of her visit to the Portuguese Republic, Olena Zelenska together with Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov visited the national stand of Ukraine at the Web Summit - the largest annual European technology conference taking place in Lisbon.
This year, the summit gathered more than 70,000 visitors and 900 speakers, including representatives of the world's largest companies: Apple, Google, Amazon, OpenSea, Microsoft, etc.
Despite the war, Ukraine was represented by the largest delegation in history, which included representatives of foundations, IT companies, state institutions, as well as more than 70 leading Ukrainian startups. According to Mykhailo Fedorov, this year the export of computer services in Ukraine increased by 23% compared to the previous year, Ukrainian IT companies attracted $350 million in investments. The IT sector today fulfills two key tasks: providing regular foreign exchange earnings and paying taxes.
Olena Zelenska noted the scale and interactivity of the Ukrainian pavilion.
"There are events here all the time: presentations, lectures, pitches of Ukrainian startups and companies. All of them prove that now is the time to invest in Ukrainian IT. Because Ukraine's victory in the war, along with people, is ensured by modern technologies," the First Lady is convinced.
During a separate event, the President's wife presented her foundation - the Olena Zelenska Foundation, the creation of which was announced in September in New York - to the participants of the summit, representatives of the global IT business.
"The status of the First Lady does not provide real resources to solve the problems that my country is facing now. Therefore, in order to act as efficiently as possible and help people, I decided to create my foundation. I want to use my resources and international ties to attract foreign investments to restore and improve people's lives in Ukraine," she said.
Olena Zelenska spoke about the main tasks that her foundation is currently working on: "In medicine and education, we have identified objects for the reconstruction and material and technical support of which we are raising funds. We started with two educational facilities - one in Bucha district, the other one in Brovary district. Medical facilities were chosen from the Kharkiv region (Kupyansk, Balakliya, Izyum), where the medical infrastructure is largely damaged and needs immediate action so that people can get help. In the direction of humanitarian aid, we started with the most urgent request - preparing the population of the de-occupied territories for the cold weather."
The First Lady emphasized that she is glad to find like-minded people among the representatives of the global IT sector who are ready to take part in the reconstruction of Ukraine.
