Ministry of Economy and Raiffeisen Bank signed a joint statement on cooperation for municipal energy efficiency
On March 5 the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine and Raiffeisen Bank signed a Joint statement on Nationwide Cooperation for Energy Efficiency and Municipal Energy Resilience of Ukraine.
With this document, the Ministry of Economy and Raiffeisen Bank declared their intention to develop partnership aimed at strengthening energy safety of territorial communities, modernization of infrastructure and attracting international financing for the energy sector recovery. In particular, Austria is expected to provide sovereign-backed export credit instruments supporting public-sector infrastructure projects to Ukraine.
“Ukraine’s territorial communities face today systemic energy vulnerabilities due to aging centralized infrastructure, war-related damage and limited fiscal capacity for rapid modernization. The readiness for cooperation, which we have declared today in a joint statement, underlines the understanding by the Ministry of Economy and Raiffeisen Bank of the necessity to develop decentralized energy generation, modernization of district heating systems, and long-term structured financing mechanisms”, – Vitalii Kindrativ, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, noted.
“Financing of the projects aimed at the country’s energy independence increase is a big priority for Raiffeisen Bank. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we have signed customers’ loan applications for approximately UAH 3.5 bn”, – Natalia Gurina, Chairwoman of the Management Board of the Bank, stated. “At the same time, we see the need to mobilize large private capital for the restoration of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. International cooperation and risk-mitigation instruments, for example Austrian federal export credit mechanisms are essential to mobilize private capital. Raiffeisen Bank is ready to help with that so that Ukraine’s territorial communities and Ukraine in general can achieve energy resilience.”
It is expected that cooperation of the Ministry of Economy and Raiffeisen Bank within the frames of the signed jointed statement together with strengthening energy resilience and autonomy of Ukraine’s territorial communities will also accelerate alignment with EU sustainability and energy efficiency standards. Moreover, this initiative should enhance Austrian-Ukrainian economic partnership.
