Ukraine's reconstruction and EU accession: Coordination between investment and technical assistance
Karim Karaki, Amandine Sabourin and San Bilal argue that by ensuring well-coordinated and strategically aligned technical assistance and investment efforts, the EU and its partners can accelerate Ukraine’s recovery in line with its national policy objectives, strengthen its resilience and support its successful EU integration.
Summary
Effective coordination of technical assistance (TA) and investment is crucial for Ukraine’s efficient and effective reconstruction and European Union (EU) accession, which is estimated to cost around €700 billion. Drawing from EU experience, particularly the Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions (JASPERS) and the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), this policy paper argues that a structured and strategic TA approach can enhance investment mobilisation, governance and the business environment. Achieving this will require a hybrid model that balances flexibility with long-term capacity development.
In this context, the Ukraine FIRST platform is ideally positioned to play a key role and help facilitate project implementation aligned with EU standards. By ensuring well-coordinated and strategically aligned TA and investment efforts, the EU and its partners can accelerate Ukraine’s recovery in line with its national policy objectives, strengthen its resilience and support its successful EU integration.
On the way forward, the brief emphasises the need to integrate private sector actors and institutions that service private entities (such as export credit agencies), which have a critical role to play in Ukraine’s economic recovery. TA should be designed to facilitate their participation in and beyond the Ukraine Investment Framework.
