Ukraine needs an analogue of “Ramstein” for demining its territory, given the scale of contamination. This was stated by First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko during a meeting with Member of Parliament of Canada Heather McPherson.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the issue of war risk insurance for foreign companies willing to participate in the rapid recovery of Ukraine, in particular, for Canadian businesses. The First Deputy Prime Minister noted that Ukraine was already working with the United States and the European Union on this issue and emphasized the importance of introducing investment insurance mechanisms in the context of the need to restore and revitalize the national economy, which fell by 30.4% last year.

Another important topic of discussion was the demining of Ukraine’s territory. Yuliia Svyrydenko pointed out that, given the scale of contamination, demining would take 70 years with the resources available to Ukraine. Therefore, to solve this problem in the shortest possible time, we need strong support from international partners – financial, technological, and organizational. In her opinion, to synchronize and coordinate demining efforts, it is necessary to create an analogue of the defense “Ramstein”.

Other issues discussed during the meeting included the return of Ukrainians who were forced to go abroad because of the war and the support the Ukrainian Government is ready to provide them, programs to rebuild housing and infrastructure destroyed during the war, food security and the role of Ukraine as one of the key food suppliers to the world market.

Earlier, the Government established an Interagency Working Group on humanitarian demining, which is working on a range of issues to organize humanitarian demining in a short time. The group is headed by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine.