The team from the Ministry of Development, Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure of Ukraine held a meeting with the Minister for Development Cooperation and Major Cities of Belgium, Caroline Gennez, and the head of the Belgian Development Agency "ENABEL," Jean Van Wetter.
As a result of the meeting, it was agreed to start implementing projects for the restoration of critical and social infrastructure already in March. Additionally, "ENABEL" plans to open offices in Kyiv and Kharkiv in the near future.
The Belgian Development Agency "ENABEL" received funding of $150 million from "frozen" Russian assets in Belgium. Therefore, the possibility of cooperation in the joint project "HOPE" with the World Bank was discussed at the meeting. The goal of the project is to restore housing damaged by hostilities, including through compensation. The project also aims to strengthen the capacities of communities in recovery efforts.
"The support of local self-government bodies to increase their capacity to overcome the consequences of military aggression is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Reconstruction, along with housing restoration. Together with international partners, we have developed and launched the urgent and major repairs program eRecovery. Over 40,000 Ukrainians have already received 3.8 billion hryvnias. Such results became possible thanks to the synergy of local and central authorities in using digital tools. We invite Belgian partners to join us," commented Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure, Oleksandra Azarkhina.
During the meeting with the Belgian delegation, the main digital tool discussed was the State Digital Ecosystem for Reconstruction Management (DREAM), which was built on the principle of "everyone sees everything." DREAM allows prioritizing recovery projects and providing them with priority support. It also enables monitoring the progress of work and expenses at each stage.
