The Ukrainian delegation, led by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko, presented priority projects for funding in 2025 to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Yuliia Svyrydenko also thanked JICA for all the support provided since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

“JICA’s contribution to the recovery and economic stability of Ukraine is difficult to overestimate. The agency’s support for Ukraine over the entire period has already reached USD 1.5 billion. This includes support for Ukraine’s energy capabilities, the social sector, economic projects, and humanitarian demining. In particular, Japan has already allocated through JICA over USD 70 million for demining, which was used to purchase demining machines and equipment,” First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Economy of Ukraine noted.

During the meeting, the Ukrainian delegation presented projects in the areas of finance, infrastructure, energy, agriculture, humanitarian demining, environmental protection, healthcare, education, social sphere, digitalization, and industrial development.

“One of the key topics of discussion is the development of industry. We called on the Japan International Cooperation Agency to support projects to strengthen industrial cooperation, create joint ventures, supply equipment and spare parts, and restore destroyed industrial facilities,” Yuliia Svyrydenko noted.

Another priority area was energy. The Ukrainian delegation called for the supply of energy equipment for distributed generation, solar power plants for critical infrastructure, and requested assistance in the purchase of special equipment and machinery for Ukrhydroenergo and Ukrenergo, as well as equipment for clearing debris and restoring damaged energy infrastructure.

According to Yuliia Svyrydenko, Japan has advanced technologies for energy-efficient equipment with a high efficiency coefficient, so the experience of this country can contribute to the restoration of energy capabilities.

The Minister of Economy also thanked Japan for its budget support and expressed hope that Ukraine would remain among Japan’s priorities in 2025. In addition, she called on JICA to participate in financing investment projects consolidated in the Unified Portfolio of Public Investment Projects.

“We called on Japanese partners to support financing of public projects in the areas of healthcare, education, and social services. For private projects, we called on Japan to support the creation of Project Preparation Facility, which will help businesses prepare quality projects. In addition, we hope for Japan’s support in covering the budget deficit. We welcome the assurances of partners on supporting Ukraine through the G7 ERA mechanism. JICA will participate in the implementation of this mechanism,” Yuliia Svyrydenko said.

As a reminder, JICA is a Japanese international cooperation agency that operates within the framework of the government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme. The agency provides technical assistance, allocates soft loans for budget support, and has a grant (free) assistance tool.

ERA is a mechanism created by the G7 countries that will allow the use of proceeds from frozen Russian sovereign assets to cover the principal, interest, and other costs associated with loans raised from partners under the initiative. ERA provides for the allocation of up to USD 50 billion, with subsequent repayment from proceeds from frozen Russian assets.