President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with CEO of Alstom Henri Poupart-Lafarge and discussed prospects for cooperation in the railway sector.
The President underscored Ukraine's interest in implementing joint projects. "Despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis around the world, the countries’ economies must keep developing, and joint projects are the foundation for this. The projects focused on added value and increase of jobs are a priority for us. That is why infrastructure projects are important for Ukraine," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The President noted that Ukraine is actively implementing the program of road construction this year - of 25 thousand km of priority roads of state importance, more than 4 thousand km are planned to be built in 2020. In addition, work is underway to develop water transport. Separately, Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted the Ukrainian railway, which is one of the largest in Europe: its length is about 22 thousand km.
Henri Poupart-Lafarge noted that the company considers not only cooperation in the modernization of the rolling stock of the Ukrainian railway, but also a long-term cooperation for the maintenance of the locomotive fleet and job creation in Ukraine. Ensuring the localization of part of production in Ukraine will not only stimulate the development of domestic industrial potential, but also help Ukrainian producers enter export markets due to the inclusion in global supply chains. Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that such projects are extremely important.