Marshall Plan for Ukraine: Europe and the US announce the establishment of investment funds for reconstruction
14 July 10:35
540 billion dollars – this is how much the World Bank estimates the reconstruction of Ukraine will cost. About 11 billion euros – this is the amount of commitments made by the participants of the Rome conference on Ukraine’s recovery. Kommersant found out how realistic it is to bridge this gap in amounts and whether the conference in Rome gave rise to such hopes.
Flagship initiatives
The Ukrainian concept of support for the restoration and modernization of Ukraine envisages the creation of two funds totaling $1 trillion.
“The first is the Fund Ukraine for $540 billion, because that is how much the World Bank estimates the reconstruction of Ukraine will cost. The second fund is the European Structural Fund in support of Ukraine worth $460 billion,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a meeting of the Ukrainian Ministerial Donor Platform within the framework of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 (URC-2025).
The Prime Minister explained that the first fund should be administered by Ukraine and formed from confiscated Russian assets and a special tax on the export of Russian raw materials, while the second fund would include investments from the European private sector to develop production in Ukraine.
And Europe’s readiness to help Ukraine was confirmed in Rome when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the creation of a European flagship fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction by the EU, Italy, Germany, France, and Poland.
Andriy Dligach, Doctor of Economics, Chairman of Advanter Group, founder of the international business community Board, who participated in the conference, emphasized the strategic nature of this decision.
“This is, of course, strategic news – the announcement of the launch of a fund for Ukraine, which is beginning to be filled with money. And the prospects for its filling can be assessed much better than the prospects for filling the BlackRock fund. It was immediately clear that they were being overly optimistic. BlackRock is about the ability to find private financing. This European fund is about funding from the EU, as well as Italy, Germany, France, and Poland,” the expert emphasizes.
As a reminder, on the eve of the conference, it was reported that the largest American investment company BlackRock had suspended the search for investors for the Ukraine Recovery Fund. It was planned to announce the creation of such a fund in Rome.
But this negative background was completely leveled during the conference. And not only by the announcement of the creation of a European flagship fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction. In Rome, US Special Representative for Ukraine Keith Kellogg voiced the idea of international allies developing a Marshall Plan for Ukraine, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent specified such intentions, saying that President Donald Trump had initiated the creation and headed the American Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine. Apparently, BlackRock’s project could not compete with Trump’s initiative.
Not only quantity matters
More than 6,000 participants from 70 countries, about 200 signed agreements and memorandums worth about 11 billion euros. This is the overall quantitative result of URC-2025. Andriy Dligach, Doctor of Economics, Chairman of Advanter Group, founder of the international business community Board , highlights another feature of the meeting in Rome.
“The priority at this conference was the business dimension, i.e. economic development through business development, human capital, and regional development. Accordingly, by design and, as we can see, by the results, this conference can be defined as successful. In reality, while previous conferences in London and Berlin were mostly about, let’s say, memoranda of intent, now we are talking about real projects, real money, real investments. And the fact that projects worth 11 billion have been signed is, in my opinion, a super victory,” emphasized Andriy Dligach.
The overall picture is complemented by specific agreements.
For example, the government of Ukraine signed an agreement with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association to launch a five-year PREPARE Ukraine program worth $200 million. These funds will be used to prepare state and municipal reconstruction projects so that they meet the requirements of international investors and can quickly move to implementation.
Ukraine and the EU have announced the launch of a deftech project support program with a budget of UAH 100 million, which will search for technological game changers in the defense sector.
NNEGC Energoatom and Holtec International agreed to build a plant for the production of small modular reactors, and agreements were finalized with Westinghouse on the production of nuclear fuel in Ukraine.
Vodafone Ukraine and Nokia signed a memorandum of strategic partnership with the Finnish export agency Finnvera and an investment of up to €30 million to ensure reliable mobile communications even in the face of massive shelling and prolonged blackouts.
Two more business projects were highlighted by Andriy Dligach, Doctor of Economics, Chairman of Advanter Group, founder of the international business community Board. These are the agreement between PrivatBank and the EBRD, which will provide Ukrainian enterprises with up to €600 million in additional financing, and the signing of an agreement in Rome between the Ukrainian project NovaSklo and three European equipment manufacturers, which will result in the first high-tech float glass plant in Ukraine.
“I’m most pleased that we finally have specifics on the project to build a new glass plant. There are no operating plants in Ukraine that produce construction glass. There have been three attempts to launch such plants. We have been looking for these investments for two years. Now we have the technology and investments. In short, I consider it a breakthrough. the 600 million that the EBRD will provide to PrivatBank for business lending is also a huge project. It’s just very cool. It’s because business is currently experiencing a significant lack of financial resources. This is very important,” emphasized Andriy Dligach.
The Rome conference also marked the beginning of a new stage in the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the Italian Republic. The Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy issued a package of relevant decisions. And the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy signed a memorandum with Italian financial institutions on attracting export credit financing for the development of new enterprises.
Representatives of Ukrainian agribusiness also had the opportunity to communicate with their Italian counterparts. The conference included a separate agrarian panel, during which Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister of Agricultural Policy of Italy, and other Italian participants expressed interest in cooperation.
According to Nazar Bobytskyi, Head of the European Office of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, Italy understands the strong potential of the Ukrainian agricultural sector in the global markets.
“This potential is even greater in the field of agricultural processing, and this is where Italian agro-technology companies see opportunities. Also, Italian farmers are gradually moving away from fears of competition from Ukraine to understanding the complementarity of the agricultural sectors of both countries. Italy sees the greatest opportunities in supporting the return of Ukrainian agricultural exports to the markets of the global south and the ousting of Russia from them,” stated Nazar Bobytskyi.
Ukrainian agrarians invited the President of the Italian Agribusiness League “Coldiretti” Massimiliano Giansanti to visit Ukraine to discuss joint investment projects in the Ukrainian agricultural sector.
Not only opportunities, but also risks
Conferences like this are also needed so that international partners can better understand the situation in Ukraine, its aspirations, and potential. And the participants of URC-2025 tried to use such communication opportunities. Says Anna Derevyanko, Executive Director of the European Business Association.
“We received very good signals from different countries that the leaders of these countries are in solidarity, and their people are also in solidarity with Ukraine. And everyone expressed admiration for Ukrainians, how heroic we are, how resilient we are. But we need to understand that even on the sidelines of the conference, when we talked to representatives of international business, in addition to the fact that people are interested and have an interest in Ukraine, they are constantly interested in the situation in Ukraine with legal risks, the regulatory environment, whether law enforcement agencies do not put pressure on business, whether transparent business can feel normal,” notes Anna Derevyanko.
The results of the Foreign Investor Sentiment survey conducted on the eve of the conference in Rome among members of Global Business for Ukraine and the European Business Association also indicate what exactly worries foreign investors. The survey was specifically targeted at foreign companies that have previously shown interest in Ukraine. Apart from the security situation, which was mentioned by 68% of respondents, the biggest barriers to investment were
- corruption or lack of transparency – 47%,
- political uncertainty and weak institutions – 47%,
- weak rule of law – 34%,
- currency restrictions – 25%.
And this is the “homework” that Ukraine has to do properly. Anna Derevyanko, Executive Director of the European Business Association, continues.
“We have to understand that without changes for the better, we will not be able to attract what we expect. Domestically, we have to be honest about the fact that the number of criminal cases against transparent business has recently increased. The tax pressure on transparent business has increased. We see a situation where the courts are not really getting better. Objectively, if we look at the situation with the investment climate in Ukraine, it is not getting better. The question here is how to work in such a way that these fears of those interested in Ukraine are removed, how to make people understand what are the ways to enter our market, how they can work in Ukraine, what are the main challenges and how they can be overcome,” says Anna Derevyanko.
The foreign investors who participated in the above-mentioned survey also expressed their wishes. Among the most valuable support tools they mention are simplification of licensing procedures, military and political risk insurance, tax benefits, and investment guarantees and incentives. Help in finding local partners would also be helpful.
At the same time, only 8% of the survey participants showed no interest in opportunities related to Ukraine’s recovery, 13% have not yet decided, but 79% of the foreign investors surveyed are interested in taking advantage of opportunities related to Ukraine’s recovery.
Author: Sergiy Vasilevich
