‘Colossal’ work ahead as Ukraine’s recovery meets to open in Switzerland – Humanitarian – War in Ukraine
Police officers make statements at the entrance of the Palazzo dei Congressi on the eve of a two-day international conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine July 3, 2022 in Lugano. AFP
Zelenskyy, who is scheduled to deliver a video address at the opening of the conference Monday afternoon, on Sunday underscored the tremendous challenges of recovering from the devastation since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24.
“The volume of work on already liberated areas is really colossal,” he said.
“And we must liberate over 2,000 villages and towns in eastern and southern Ukraine.”
The two-day conference, held under tight security in the picturesque southern Swiss city of Lugano, was planned well before the invasion and was originally intended to discuss reforms in Ukraine before focusing on reconstruction.
However, as billions of dollars in aid flow to Ukraine, ongoing concerns about widespread corruption in the country mean that far-reaching reforms remain the focus and will be a condition of any stimulus plan enacted here.
‘timetable’
Lugano is not a donor conference, instead trying to set the principles and priorities for a reconstruction process to begin while the war is still going on.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Switzerland Artem Rybchenko said it would help create a “roadmap” for his country’s recovery.
While Zelensky was unable to leave Ukraine to co-host the event with his Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal made a rare trip outside the country since the beginning of the war to attend.
Among the approximately 100 Ukrainians who made the trip were five other government ministers, although Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reportedly had to cancel at the last moment due to illness.
A total of around 1,000 people should take part in the conference, including EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Lithuania.
‘Marshall Plan’
Questions have been raised about the value of discussing reconstruction when there is no end in sight to the war.
However, Robert Mardini, director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, stressed the importance of giving “a positive perspective” to Ukrainians who have lost everything and “are struggling with fear and uncertainty for the future”.
Others stress the need to start laying the groundwork early, as was done with the hugely successful Marshall Plan, a US initiative that pumped huge sums of foreign aid into Western Europe to help the continent rebuild and recover to help World War II.
The task is daunting.
Rebuilding Ukraine, which has already seen devastation, is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
The Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) has so far estimated damage to buildings and infrastructure at nearly $104 billion, and the Ukrainian economy has already suffered losses of up to $600 billion.
Revert green
Simon Pidoux, the Swiss ambassador in charge of the conference, said it was too early to try to gauge all needs and insisted that Lugano should instead provide “a compass” for the work ahead.
“I think the effort will take years, if not decades,” he said.
Although not a pledging conference, some participants are expected to make new pledges and propose frameworks for further funding.
The European Investment Bank will propose setting up a new trust fund for Ukraine, which could eventually swell to €100 billion with investments from EU and non-EU countries, according to sources familiar with the draft plans.
The proposal, due to be announced on Monday, aims to create a platform that can generate investment for Ukraine’s reconstruction and also EU accession goals, they said.
The Lugano Reconstruction and Development Plan will set out the reconstruction needs in terms of the damaged and destroyed infrastructure and economy, but also the ecological and social reconstruction needs.
To persuade decision-makers to opt for rebuilding Ukraine’s electricity grid with renewable energy, Greenpeace and 45 Ukrainian NGOs erected a giant replica wind turbine near the conference site.
Natalia Gozak, head of Kyiv-based Ecoaction, insisted that “Ukraine should not rebuild its infrastructure to the old Soviet standards” known for dirty coal and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
“We can’t afford to plan wrong from the start.”
Short link: