President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met in Kyiv Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was the first visit of a Dutch Prime Minister to Ukraine in the last 17 years.
The Ukrainian President expressed gratitude to the Netherlands and personally to Mark Rutte for supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the readiness to cooperate in order to deoccupy Crimea.
We spent most of our time today on the issue of security in Ukraine and security on our borders, which affects the economy of our country. We also discussed possible sanctions from the European Union and the Netherlands in case of escalation.
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine
For his part, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands stressed that today every effort should be made to de-escalate the situation near Ukraine's borders, including through diplomacy.
Moreover, he thanked the President of Ukraine for his cooperation in investigating the downing of MH17.
The only solution for the de-escalation is diplomacy, a dialogue that must continue between Russia and the United States, between Russia and NATO, and, of course, between the countries of the Normandy format - Ukraine, Germany and France.
Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
The leaders noted the potential for further bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture, particularly by stimulating innovation. They stressed the importance of holding a meeting of the Ukrainian – Dutch Working Group on Agriculture as soon as the epidemiological situation allows. Rutte furthermore expressed that the Netherlands intends to organise a mission for Dutch companies that are interested in doing business in Ukraine.
The leaders expressed their interest in advancing bilateral cooperation in healthcare, particularly in order to secure equitable access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines. In this light, The Netherlands will donate approximately 400.000 Euros to the Ukraine Humanitarian Response Plan (OCHA), for its response to the pandemic in Eastern Ukraine. The leaders also welcomed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and Philips Medical Systems aimed at improving quality of medical services in Ukraine.Â
The Netherlands is our important partner within the EU and the Alliance, one of the key trading partners in Europe and the second largest investor in the Ukrainian economy.
We are also interested in developing trade, economic and investment cooperation. Our trade turnover has crossed the $ 2.5 billion mark, but we strive to do much more and we are able to do more. I invited large Dutch companies to discover Ukraine and create new success stories in the promising areas. These are alternative energy, river transport, water resources management, waste management, agriculture, irrigation and reclamation, and more.
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine
Finally, during the meeting they discussed about strengthening bilateral cooperation on European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine.
