On October 4, the Minister of Economy and Environment of Ukraine Oleksandr Kravchenko met with the Federal Minister of Economics and Energy of Germany Katherina Reiche as part of her visit to Kyiv.
During the meeting, the ministers visited a destroyed logistics facility in the Kyiv region and discussed practical mechanisms for protecting Ukrainian businesses in the face of Russian aggression, as well as scaling up support and restoration programs for affected enterprises.
Special attention was paid to two key areas – a new mechanism for insurance of war risks and the development of the joint initiative “Industrial Ramstein”.
Ukraine is currently developing an updated model of military risk insurance, under which payments to affected businesses are planned to be increased to $10 million.
“This is the first level of losses that the state will cover. We want the mechanism to become truly helpful for big business and create conditions for attracting private insurers and reinsurers. The Ukrainian side is counting on the support of this model by the G7 countries, in particular, on the participation of Germany in the formation of a special Fund for targeted financing,” said the Minister of Economy and Environment of Ukraine Oleksandr Kravchenko.
The parties also focused on the needs of Ukrainian business in the face of constant attacks on production and logistics infrastructure, the restoration of industrial capacities and the attraction of German investments and technologies, as well as the further implementation of the joint initiative “Industrial Ramstein”.
Special attention was paid to the transition from emergency support for Ukrainian enterprises to the systemic modernization of production and the deepening of the integration of Ukrainian industry into European production chains.
“Germany is one of our key economic partners. Our task today is to translate this cooperation into an even more practical plane: equipment for Ukrainian enterprises, joint production, localization, technologies and investments. Russia is trying to destroy Ukrainian production facilities, so our response should be not only to restore the damaged, but also to create a stronger and more modern industrial base. “Industrial Ramstein” should be such a tool,” said Oleksandr Kravchenko.
The “Industrial Ramstein” initiative, launched by Ukraine and Germany in April, should provide Ukrainian enterprises with access to modern industrial equipment and financial instruments for the restoration and modernization of production. The German side is providing EUR 30 million in start-up financing for the practical launch of the initiative.
The parties discussed further steps to launch the pilot stage of the program and its subsequent scaling up. The Ukrainian side expects that the mechanism will allow not only to replace equipment lost as a result of the war, but also to technologically upgrade enterprises and create long-term production ties between Ukrainian and German companies.
“We want every euro of support to produce a specific production result – a restored line, a working enterprise, saved jobs and additional products produced in Ukraine. The next step is to scale this approach and involve more German companies and regions in it. Ukraine has specific demand, Germany has technologies and a strong industrial base. The combination of these opportunities is beneficial to both of our economies,” Oleksandr Kravchenko emphasized.
Ukraine also proposed to deepen direct partnership with German federal states and their industrial clusters, combining the specific needs of Ukrainian enterprises with the technological specialization of individual regions of Germany.
Other topics of the talks include expanding the presence of German business in Ukraine, creating joint ventures, localizing production, joint R&D projects, and developing mechanisms for insurance of war risks. Ukraine is working on a model under which the state assumes the first level of losses in order to create conditions for a wider involvement of private insurers and reinsurers and reduce risks for investors.
Oleksandr Kravchenko thanked Germany for its systematic support for Ukraine and emphasized that industrial cooperation should become one of the foundations of a long-term economic partnership between the two countries.
“It is fundamentally important for us to move from the logic of support to the logic of joint development. Ukraine can be part of European production chains, a platform for new investments and joint production. We are interested in German business being one of the key partners in this process,” the minister concluded. (Economy Ministry)