On a visit to Odessa, the Delegate Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, reaffirmed France’s support in the reconstruction of Ukraine, which is already emerging. “France and our companies are committed to ensuring these vital exchanges,” he said. The city in the south of the country, on the shores of the Black Sea, is a crucial corridor for many products exported by the country.
Beyond humanitarian aid, which has been very important to allow Ukrainians to get through the winter, France also aims to introduce its companies into the major reconstruction project of the country ravaged by a year of war. The total cost of repairs ranges from $138 billion as quantified at the start of 2023 by the Kyiv School of Economics, to around $750 billion according to the high range of the Ukrainian government, or even more than $1,000 billion according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Clément Beaune will sign a list of needs with the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of infrastructure at the end of this visit. “We project ourselves into the aftermath,” he said in an interview given to France Info just before his departure from Moldova for Ukraine. On December 13, Bercy organized a major conference in support of Ukraine, with a humanitarian component aimed at raising emergency funds and equipment to get through the winter, and a second part during which more than 700 companies were able to consult the needs issued by the Ukrainian government for the reconstruction of the country.
On the occasion of this conference, the sending of 20 million euros of seeds by three major French seed companies, as well as kit bridges, was validated. In addition, the supply of the steel necessary for the repair of 150 kilometers of destroyed railways in the west of the country has been confirmed by the Minister Delegate visiting the country. The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron then recalled that France was the first foreign employer in Ukraine, before the war.
In all, nearly 100 million euros in contracts were signed during this major conference. Similar events had been organized by Denmark, or Germany on the investment side. The big question remains who will fund this “21st Century Marshall Plan”. The “Rebuild Ukraine” initiative, launched at a large event in November 2022, aims to connect investors, companies and institutional bodies. Still, companies are still reluctant to invest in a country still at war, and all the more so if it proves necessary to send staff there.
kyiv has announced that it has entrusted the American BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, with the task of coordinating the investments needed to rebuild the country. The competition between European countries, the EU, the World Bank and the United States is launched to know who will finance the bulk of this reconstruction. The IMF also announced in March a $15.6 billion plan to restore the country’s economy, which shrank by 30% in 2022.
Consult our file: War in Ukraine
