During a working visit to the United States, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President of the World Bank Group David Malpass.
The President noted the timely support for Ukraine by the World Bank in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which helped get through the most difficult stages of the crisis.
The interlocutors praised the successful cooperation, as evidenced by the receipt of record amounts of funding from the World Bank by our state.
"I am grateful for the attention you personally pay to Ukraine and Ukrainian projects. We are a country that is confidently moving towards reforms, implementing EU and NATO standards. We enjoy good cooperation with the World Bank on this path," said the President of Ukraine.
Considerable attention has been paid to the progress that has been made in recent years. The President briefed the World Bank delegation on the reforms being implemented in Ukraine. Land reform and the development of the agricultural sector, which the bank is ready to support as much as possible, were noted.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited the World Bank to join the implementation of Ukraine's transformation plan.
The importance of the bank's participation in projects to finance the construction and reconstruction of roads in Ukraine was emphasized.
"Within the Large Construction program we are already implementing a number of large-scale investment projects. In 2020-2021, 9,500 kilometers of roads were built throughout Ukraine," the Head of State said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented an ambitious plan for the "green" transformation of our country and expressed hope for its support by the World Bank.
"We want to act together with the EU on the Green Course, decarbonisation of the economy, energy efficiency, adaptation to climate change," said the President of Ukraine.
According to him, our state is also interested in improving the banking sector, transformation and privatization of state-owned banks.
In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted Ukraine's readiness to take an active part in the preparation of a new Partnership Strategy with World Bank institutions for 2022-2026.
Also during the visit of the President of Ukraine to the United States, the First Vice Prime Minister - Minister of Economy of Ukraine Oleksiy Lyubchenko and Acting President of the US Export-Import Bank James Burrows signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and the United States Export-Import Bank.
The document is aimed at realizing the interest of Ukraine and the United States in increasing economic cooperation, including trade in goods and services, by financing US exports to Ukraine from federal resources.
The memorandum provides for cooperation on projects in the infrastructure sector of Ukraine, agriculture, energy and digital economy.
The parties intend to explore the possibility of using medium- and long-term guarantees, as well as direct loans from the US Export-Import Bank to finance US exports to Ukraine in the amount of $ 3 billion or other amount agreed by the parties.
