U.S. Envoy On Ukraine's Economic Recovery Says Reconstruction Process Already Under Way

WASHINGTON -- The United States and Ukraine’s other partners have already started working on Ukraine’s economic recovery even as Kyiv focuses on defending itself because both Kyiv and its partners know that "part of Putin’s war strategy is to try and destroy Ukraine’s economy,” said the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine’s economic recovery.

Penny Pritzker, a former U.S. commerce secretary who was appointed to the post by President Joe Biden, told a briefing in Washington on April 17 that she and other partners have been working with Ukrainians and Kyiv’s allies in both the public and private sectors to strengthen the economic environment to enable private sector investment.

She said it’s important to start now because a functioning Ukrainian economy is key both to its war effort and to achieving its Euro-Atlantic goals.

“In order to defeat [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, it is not only going to take a sustained commitment from governments but also increased private sector engagement like a business advisory council to be more agile and responsive to the complex and rapidly changing environment in Ukraine,” said Pritzker, who served as commerce secretary from 2013 to 2017.

Among the work already complete is the creation of a Multi-Donor Coordination Platform (MDCP) that last week held its first steering committee meeting in Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, she said, saying the group is a testament to what the international donor community can do when it collaborates.

The MDCP is on track to launch a business advisory council at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in June. The conference, which will be hosted by Germany and held in Berlin, will be an opportunity for Ukrainians to showcase their progress on various reforms.

It also will provide an opportunity for partner countries to highlight the support they have available and for the private sector to showcase what it can bring to the table, she said.

The conference “has the potential to be an important moment in both envisioning and bringing to reality some of the future ideas about Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction,” Pritzker told reporters.

Pritzker also noted that the Ukrainian economy “just like its military remains alive active and resilient.” The country’s GDP is expected to grow at around 4 percent in 2024 after 5 percent growth last year, and state revenue increased 25 percent in January 2024 over the same month the previous year, she said.

Last year Ukraine saw investment increase by 17 percent, with more than 37,000 new businesses registered -- more than half founded by women, she added.

“Such results do not just happen. They are the result of close collaboration and partnership across governments, international financial institutions, NGOs, the private sector, and more,” she said.

As a sign of the progress thus far, Pritzker said a $156 million deal was announced last week in Kyiv to provide 40 diesel locomotives for Ukraine’s national railway in what she said was the first such deal since the invasion.

Pritzker said she has made two trips to Ukraine in the past two weeks and knows how dire the situation is as it struggles to defend itself with supplies of air defense munitions and artillery shells dwindling. She joined a chorus of Biden administration officials who are calling for the U.S. Congress to pass a multi-billion dollar aid package that has been held back in the House of Representatives by a small group of Republicans.

“Let me be clear: 784 days into Russia’s full-scale invasion, the House must act to provide the crucial security, economic, and humanitarian lifeline that Ukraine needs and they must act now,” she said. “The American people support Ukraine and we cannot abandoned them in their time of need.”