Japan establishes coordination council for Ukraine’s recovery
18 December 2024 09:45
Japan has announced the establishment of a coordination council for the restoration of Ukraine, which will become a platform for cooperation between Ukrainian and Japanese businesses. This was announced by Hiromasa Nakano, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan, during a meeting with Yulia Svyrydenko, First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and members of the Ukrainian delegation, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports citing the Ministry of Economy.
“Japan has experience in disaster relief, technology and production necessary for recovery. We are convinced that their expertise will help Ukraine speed up the process of restoring the destroyed facilities. Minister Hiromasa Nakano said that Japan is ready to hold the first meeting of the coordination council, to which it has already invited representatives of the Government of Ukraine. We are grateful to our partners for this invaluable support,” said Yulia Svyrydenko.
In addition, the Ukrainian side voiced its priorities in cooperation with the Government of Japan in terms of infrastructure restoration. In particular, they called for continuing to provide Ukrzaliznytsia with rails to restore the railroad surface. Ukraine needs 25 thousand tons of R-65 steel rails. Japan has already donated the same amount through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which allowed the restoration of 200 kilometers of railroad tracks in 2023-2024.
Other priority projects include the restoration of housing infrastructure using advanced Japanese technologies and innovations, the exchange of experience for training specialists in the transport sector, and other projects.
“It is important that we are already developing specific coordination mechanisms in the field of recovery. This will allow us to directly interact on the issue of recovery priorities and needs both at the level of governments and at the level of the private sector, whose role in the recovery process is no less important. We expect that the coordination council will become an effective mechanism for attracting support for the restoration of critical infrastructure, the transport sector, social facilities and housing,” said Deputy Minister of Communities and Territories Development Serhiy Derkach.
The parties discussed how Japan and Ukraine can facilitate the involvement of Japanese companies in Ukraine’s recovery and what tools the private sector needs from the governments of both countries.
