September 23, 2022, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko, USAID Mission Director in Ukraine James Hope and Chief of Party of the USAID State-Owned Enterprise Reform Agency (SOERA) Craig R. VanDevelde signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the cooperation development between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID ), the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and Deloitte Consulting LLC.
The Memorandum envisages tripartite cooperation to optimize and strengthen the existing systems of the Government of Ukraine regarding monitoring, transparency, verification, and reporting, which are used to manage all direct budget support funds from the U.S. Government.
Since the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, the Government of the United States of America, through USAID, has provided the Government of Ukraine with USD 8.5 billion in direct budget support. The newly signed Memorandum states that additional funds may be appropriated in the future, as the U.S. Government, including USAID, remains committed to supporting the Government and people of Ukraine, who are defending their sovereignty and democracy.
"The financial assistance of the United States of America has been a great help for the Ukrainian people, enabling the Government of Ukraine to finance such urgent needs as the payment of teachers and healthcare worker's wages, pensions, and assistance for internally displaced persons during the fight against the aggressor. The main priority for the Government of Ukraine is to ensure the transparent and responsible spending of international funds for the urgent and priority needs of the citizens of Ukraine," said Sergii Marchenko during the Memorandum signing.
"U.S. support has been, and will continue to be, used transparently and effectively to support Ukrainians and counter the harmful consequences of an unprovoked full-scale russian invasion. American taxpayers should know that they are providing significant support to the people of Ukraine during the war. Ukrainians should also know that direct budget support finances important services such as healthcare and education, and provides citizens with food, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies. With today's agreement, USAID and the Government of Ukraine affirmed our mutual commitment to ensure accountability and transparency in the use of direct budget support from the American people," said USAID Mission Director in Ukraine James Hope.
According to the terms of the three-year Memorandum of Understanding, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and the USAID SOERA will cooperate closely to optimize and strengthen the current monitoring, verification, and reporting systems of the Government of Ukraine, strengthening the guarantees used to manage all direct budget support funds from the U.S. Government, and strengthening the strategic communications of the Government of Ukraine regarding the spending of these funds to ensure accountability and transparency.
