On the sidelines of the COP28, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets and Minister of the Environment of Korea Han Hwa-jin signed a Memorandum of Cooperation.

The Minister explained how Ukraine was already taking care of nature restoration and the reforms being implemented in the environmental sector.

Under the Memorandum, the countries will cooperate in the following areas:

- sustainable water management. Ukraine is interested in the experience of establishing an appropriate state-owned company for effective management. It is also important to apply modern practices in water treatment, etc;

- waste management and transition to a circular economy. Ukraine needs to build 207 new waste treatment plants to solve the accumulated problems. Ruslan Strilets invited his colleagues to join this project.

Other urgent issues of cooperation include the restoration of Ukrainian forests; conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services; adaptation and mitigation of climate change, development of environmentally friendly technologies, etc.

According to Ms Han Hwa-jin, it was important for Korea to hear the plans for the restoration and green reconstruction of Ukraine after the war. To continue the dialogue and strengthen cooperation, the parties agreed to meet in Ukraine.

“We are looking forward to seeing our colleagues in Kyiv in the near future, and in the meantime, we continue to draw attention to Ukraine and engage as many allies as possible at the annual UN Conference on Climate Change,” noted Ruslan Strilets.