On January 17th, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko, and the Czech Republic’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Jozef Sikela, reached an agreement to establish a working group to involve Czech enterprises in the reconstruction of Ukraine. Svyrydenko expressed gratitude for the military, financial and humanitarian aid provided by Czechia, which she said is one of Ukraine’s key European partners, providing significant political and practical help, and being one of Ukraine’s five key weapons suppliers.

The two ministers also discussed a meeting of the intergovernmental Ukrainian-Czech commission to be held in March 2023 and an agreement for further cooperation in the energy sector and integration of electricity markets. The Czech government has provided Ukraine with 3 billion Czech crowns (about $130 million) worth of military aid and in October 2022 approved a programme of humanitarian, stabilisation, reconstruction and economic aid to Ukraine, allocating 500 million crowns annually for this purpose from 2023 to 2025.

The Czech Cabinet of Ministers also appointed a governmental ombudsman for the reconstruction of Ukraine in January 2023.

Article by Prague Forum