German Minister: Municipalities To Play Key Role in Ukraine's Recovery

"Municipalities play a key role in all reconstruction processes. They coordinate the rebuilding of roads, schools, hospitals and housing. That is why we are focusing on the development of sustainable communities – to ensure that municipalities have access to all the resources they need," said Svenja Schulze, Head of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Regional Development, in her speech at the Ukraine Recovery Conference.

Speaking at the plenary session 'United in Recovery – Towards a Free and Prosperous Ukraine', she described the plan developed to help Ukrainians. It has three pillars:

• Supporting people and providing them access to the most essential things during the war.
• Health care, where the ecosystem has to be rebuilt.
• Energy security, where Germany is helping to rebuild networks and innovations so that the Ukrainian energy system can become part of the European one.

"Ukraine has been defending its freedom for 837 days. The Ukrainian people have shown steadfastness and resilience, for which I would like to thank each and every one of you. You defend our freedom in Europe. During my trip to Ukraine I met many people – and almost all of them are optimists, with different hopes and expectations for the rebuilding of their country.

Like Yana, for example, who lost both her legs in the Kramatorsk bombing and two years later ran a marathon in Boston. Or Tetiana, who was forced to move from eastern Ukraine to western Ukraine with her three children, but learned new skills and found a new job to support her family.

To these Ukrainian women and to all the others I want to say: Germany will stand by Ukraine! With a country of tough people who want a free life," said the Minister.

Thanks to international partners, more than 200 projects have been implemented in the city of Irpin alone over the past two years, said its mayor, Oleksandr Markushyn.

“Our municipality greatly appreciates the support of GIZ and the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, which were among the first to provide us with diesel generators, municipal equipment to replace that destroyed by shelling, materials and tools. All of this allowed our utilities to start restoring the city very quickly,” said the mayor of Irpin.

He added that the International Committee of the Red Cross was one of the first to come to the rescue, helping to restore drinking water to the city within 19 days. Thanks to UNICEF, Caritas and Water for Ukraine, water and sewerage, gas and electricity were restored within a month and a half, bringing the city back to life,' he added.

However, the most important thing, according to the mayor, is the principles that the municipality uses in its recovery.

"The first principle is to rebuild quickly, the second is to rebuild with high quality. The third is the most important: to rebuild transparently, to honour our European partners," says Markushyn.

About URC2024: The Ukraine Recovery Conference is the second in a series of annual high-level events dedicated to the rapid recovery and long-term reconstruction of Ukraine, held since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. This year's conference is being hosted for the first time by an EU Member State – Germany. The event in Berlin brought together heads of government from a number of countries, international organisations, business and civil society.

The URC2024 will continue to implement the principles set out at the first Lugano Recovery Conference and bring stakeholders together. In line with the principles of the reform conferences that will take place until 2022, URC2024 will also showcase Ukraine's progress in implementing internal transformations, particularly in the context of economic sustainability and Ukraine's future accession to the EU.

The main goal of URC2024 is to consolidate sustainable international support for Ukraine's recovery, reconstruction, reform and modernisation. This includes emergency assistance to meet urgent needs, the implementation of rapid recovery projects, the creation of an attractive environment for business and private investment, and the active involvement of civil society in the reconstruction process.