Chancellor: We Need to Join Forces to Find Smart Ways to Help Ukraine in Rebuilding the Country
“Trying to rebuild Ukraine is as important as supporting it in a brutal war with arms or humanitarian aid. Rebuilding is also part of the struggle: it is crucial to support Ukrainians so that they can continue to live their lives and to build the country they want – a European country – despite the destruction caused by Russia,” said Chancellor Giedrė Balčytytė, who attended an international conference to mark the 20th anniversary of Lithuania's development co-operation.
The conference, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focused on the reconstruction of Ukraine, the experience of projects implemented by Lithuania, and further development. The panel discussion on Ukraine's reconstruction, attended by G. Balčytytė, reflected on Lithuania's experience of reconstruction projects in Ukraine, explored the possibilities of engaging the private sector and international development finance institutions in this process, and discussed different reconstruction programmes and the possibilities of cooperation between various donors.
“Rebuilding a country is an extremely difficult task. We must do everything we can to ensure that Ukrainians do not feel alone in this endeavour," said G. Balčytytė. She stressed that although Lithuania was one of the first countries to express its support to Ukraine, and its reconstruction projects are becoming a model for further initiatives, a lot of effort is needed to make international partners understand the value of the restoration process and the need to carry out reconstruction projects without waiting for the end of war. "Nevertheless, we are pleased that more and more countries are joining the efforts to rebuild Ukraine,” the Chancellor noted.
The discussion focused not only on the successful implementation of the projects for the establishment of the Borodyanka mobile settlement and the reconstruction of the Irpin kindergarten, as well as the modernisation of the Ukrainian electricity grid this year, but also on the ongoing projects for the reconstruction of other educational infrastructure, Lithuania's contribution to the strengthening of the administrative capacity of the State Agency for Restoration of Ukraine and the development of a digital planning tool for this process, and Lithuania's responsibility for the development of the “School of the Future in Ukraine” standard technical project.
“I often hear that there are problems with the absorption of donor support, but this should not stop us from helping: we need to join forces and look for sensible ways to do this together, to support the Ukrainian institutions in implementing important projects. I believe that projects such as the “School of the Future in Ukraine” are one example of how we can do this”, said G. Balčytytė.