The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a part of the UN system, have signed a cooperation agreement. The document was signed on 10 April 2024 in the presence of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy by First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko and IOM Director General Amy Pope.

“We are grateful to the International Organisation for Migration and IOM Ukraine, which have been providing very substantial and important assistance to Ukrainians forced to flee their homes since the first days of the large-scale russian invasion. This is an extremely urgent and sensitive issue for us. Some 4.8 million Ukrainians currently have the status of internally displaced persons. Some 6.5 million are abroad.

Our key tasks are to ensure the conditions and proper quality of life for IDPs and to create conditions for people to return to their homes – both those who have changed their region of residence in Ukraine and those who have moved abroad. I am convinced that cooperation with IOM will help us achieve our goals. It is also very important for us that the document pays considerable attention to the issue of economic adaptation of veterans, the restoration of micro and small businesses that have been forced to relocate because of the war,” Yuliia Svyrydenko said.

The cooperation agreement provides for cooperation in the following areas, among others:

• exchange of information and implementation of joint events, projects, initiatives, etc;
• improvement of policies and legislation in the area of economic adaptation and restoration of micro and small businesses displaced or disrupted by the war. Special emphasis is placed on businesses run by IDPs and veterans;
• interaction in creating favourable conditions and dissemination of relevant information for the return of Ukrainians currently abroad, integration of them and IDPs into the labour market;
• coordination with the Ukrainian diaspora to support investment and trade;
• effective management of labour migration to meet labour market demand and protect migrant workers during employment;
• support for the economic reintegration of veterans (including education, vocational training, skills development, etc.), mechanisms to support veteran businesses (employment, grant support, assistance in various forms), cooperation with the private and public sectors on the reintegration of veterans, psychosocial support for veterans (training, capacity building, awareness raising, etc.).