What should be the agenda for the world given the above?
I assume that everything is very simple. Open hashtags on Twitter or Facebook in the last 4 months. The list will compile itself. Modern media determine priorities better than a dozen officials.
Here is the list of issues that concern Ukraine and its international partners:
1. Demining of territories
The estimated time for demining territories is 3-4 years. This time grows with each day of the war. A full recovery in the occupied territories is impossible without carrying out these works. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of land cannot be cultivated; traffic flows are blocked. People’s health and lives remain at risk with explosives. Ukraine needs professional miners from all over the world. This is our cry for help.
2. Production of weapons, ammunition, and air defense
The war showed that the country cannot survive without modern weapons. However, Ukrainian weapons showed themselves from the best side. The Stugna, Bohdana, and Harpoon systems are great examples.
Together with the newest weapons of NATO countries, we have become a testing ground for state-of-the-art weapons and military skills training. We can export experience and jointly develop technologies.
Many countries need this both in Eastern Europe and Central Asia – where Russia has a significant danger of aggression.
3. Overcoming hunger in the world, ports, export logistics
As it became known from the international media, Ukrainian grain-fed 400 million people worldwide. This is a considerable share of all supplies on the planet. Ukraine is an essential player in the export market. It is necessary to restore and modernize the operation of ports and elevators. Private ports and elevator systems have for many years demonstrated the quality of product supply chains in recent decades. Ukraine is able to feed a billion people by maintaining the rate of growth of efficiency in agriculture in the next 20 years. Who wouldn’t want to have a piece of this cake?
4. Reconstruction of highways and railways into a single EU network
What are they talking about, first and foremost about the country that became a member of the EU? That’s right – roads. Ukraine has made a significant leap in road infrastructure development over the past 3 years. The community is connected by a network of roads and railways, which makes life and doing business comfortable. However, highway quality does not always meet European standards.
Now is the time to talk with the most prominent European operators and build road networks that integrate Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Baltic states with the entire Black Sea region.
5. Development and reconstruction of cities with architects and construction firms from the EU
Thousands of multi-apartment residential buildings were destroyed with a total volume of more than 7 million square meters. It was mainly a Soviet-era building. Ukraine opens out for European bureaus that want to participate in creating a new face on the map of modern Europe.
New Ukraine needs to introduce a new approach to planning and energy-efficient construction.
6. Building an independent energy system together
We have 4 nuclear power plants and started selling electricity to the EU. All oil refineries were destroyed. There are extensive gas reserves and the most outdated thermal power plants in Europe. This industry requires significant investments and participation in the single energy market of the European Union.
7. Processing of war waste, cleaning the environment
Millions of tons of construction waste, the metal of military equipment, and road surfaces are taken to landfills. Tens of thousands of bomb craters must be inspected and the soil cleared. Flora and fauna must be healed. All of this must be studied, processed, and used in constructing roads and buildings.
8. Common labor market, Ukrainians already work in the EU
4 million Ukrainians left for the EU, joining the 2-2.5 million Ukrainians already working there. It is necessary to ensure that the taxation system allows one to work legally and return home. We already have electronic systems of interaction between the state and citizens. It is necessary to simplify the provision of social assistance in host countries, which burdens the local bureaucracy.
9. Opening the opportunity for EU farmers to buy agricultural land
Ukraine has the largest supply of fertile land in Europe. After the land reform, it became possible to buy land. However, access to foreigners was restricted. Ukrainians want to thank their European neighbors for special treatment. It is time to open the market to the countries that provide aid and thereby create a protective shield along the Russian border. Invite farmers’ families from the EU to move to Ukraine under special conditions for obtaining land.
Companies, bureaus, associations, foundations, and organizations from the EU and the USA – the most significant donors – should be invited to participate in all spheres. We know that European people cannot be happy because another country is financed at their expense. So we have something to offer in return. And this proposal should be the cornerstone from the very beginning.
Legal frameworks for investors from strategic partnership countries, which open doors and provide guarantees, should be expanded immediately.
Everything else is a matter of business
Ukraine can count on grant aid to reconstruct 50-75 billion dollars in the coming decade. It provided that we carry out reforms and integrate them according to the roadmap.
However, this is not the 750 billion the top government official is talking about. Unfortunately, we have to look back when we look to the future. For 30 years, we have attracted no more than 10% of the amount that the government is counting on.
If we are talking about post-war reparations, it does not need any projects—only the calculation of damages and losses of all subjects. We cannot discuss it now; Russia has not yet announced its capitulation.
