Belgium and Ukraine sign €150 million recovery agreement

Belgium and Ukraine have signed an agreement that launches recovery cooperation and provides for investments of about €150 million over four years.

As reported by Belga, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, and Caroline Gennez, Belgian Minister for International Cooperation, signed a cooperation agreement during a video-link ceremony on 17 July, which provides for investments of €150 million in Ukraine's recovery over four years.

The agreement allows the Belgian cooperation agency Enabel to contribute to the recovery of the affected Ukrainian regions. The main activities are planned in Kyiv and Chernihiv oblasts, which Caroline Gennez visited in February this year to get acquainted with the situation.

The cooperation will include the rebuilding of critical infrastructure and the construction of comfortable shelters in schools.

The first tranche of €20 million will be spent on decentralised energy installations in Kyiv and its suburbs before the next winter, with a focus on hospitals. Belgium will also support the installation of generators and solar panels in healthcare facilities and schools.

It was reported that Germany is allocating €10 million to rebuild Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital after the Russian attack. Lithuania previously donated €1 million for the same purpose.