Farnesina –
During his mission to Kiev to participate in the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union, the Vice President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani had a series of bilateral engagements, which served to further consolidate the already excellent relations between Italy and Ukraine.
In particular, he met with the highest Ukrainian authorities, notably President Zelensky and Prime Minister Shmyhal.
During the meeting with the head of the Ukrainian state, the deputy prime minister received the honor of the Order of Jaroslav the Wise, in recognition of the high value that Kiev assigns to the role played by the Italian government in supporting Ukraine and of the profound friendship between Italy and Ukraine. On the Italian side, the strong interest in dedicating the highest priority to Ukraine was confirmed, also during the Italian presidency of the G7 in 2024.
During Tajani’s visit, Italy officially took over the patronage for the reconstruction of the city and region of Odessa. The deputy prime minister chaired with the Ukrainian Minister of Culture Karandieiev a meeting dedicated to Italian patronage for the reconstruction of Odessa, which was attended by the governor and the mayor of Odessa, the president of the Milan Triennale Stefano Boeri, the president of the MAXXI Foundation Alessandro Giuli and all the members of the inter-ministerial coordination table dedicated to the prospects for the reconstruction of Ukraine at the level of trade associations and companies. On this occasion Tajani expressed support for the Laboratory for the Reconstruction of Ukraine initiative promoted by Palazzo Chigi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture with Triennale and MAXXI, who are organizing the launch event in Milan on 31 October .
At the same time, a meeting was held with the Italian business system, which served to continue the mobilization of companies on reconstruction, briefly illustrating the potential of the new tools prepared in this regard and launching a series of initiatives to encourage the participation of the national production system in reconstruction.
During the meeting, representatives of some companies who have already started or are interested in participating in the reconstruction of Ukraine spoke: Terna in the energy sector; Leonardo in that of Defence; FS and Mermec in infrastructure and transport; Dompè in the health-pharmaceutical sector.
The Italian production system, with over 180 presences, confirmed the great interest in Ukraine’s reconstruction prospects. Also due to this strong response, Tajani announced his intention to organize an Italy-Ukraine business forum in Kiev. “Italy will remain alongside the Ukrainian people for as long as necessary, also with regards to reconstruction, of which we want to be protagonists”, commented the deputy prime minister. This appointment intends to develop the operational follow-ups of the bilateral conference on the reconstruction of Rome on 26 April through a business forum to be held in Kyiv in the spring, a year later, as an intermediate stage, during the G7 Presidency of 2024, towards the Ukraine Recovery Conference to be carried out in Italy in 2025.
In order to lay the foundations for restarting collaboration also between smaller-sized Ukrainian Italian companies, a new measure with a total value of 100 million euros consisting of a dedicated reserve on the 394/ fund was launched for the benefit of Italian SMEs. 81 to access particularly subsidized financing to invest in partnerships with Ukrainian counterparts. At the same time, a MoU proposal was discussed to promote Ukraine’s access to Italian subsidized finance measures for the supply of goods and the provision of services rendered by Italian companies, functional to reconstruction.
Finally, Minister Tajani, accompanied by Ambassador Zazo, greeted the staff of the Italian embassy in Kiev, recognizing their spirit of sacrifice and dedication to service. The minister warmly thanked the employees of the diplomatic representation for the work carried out in completely exceptional circumstances, a commitment recognized and appreciated for the services rendered to the State and Italian citizens.
