Agreement with US on minerals prepared, it is directly tied to security guarantees - Shmyhal
The agreement of Ukraine with the United States on minerals has been prepared, it is directly tied to security guarantees for Ukraine.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced this on the air of a telethon, the Ukrainian News agency reports.
"The agreement has been prepared. Today the government will consider the text of this agreement, authorize ministers to sign it later during the negotiations between the Presidents of Ukraine and the U.S. on security guarantees," he said.
Shmyhal stressed that Ukraine is not considering signing any agreements without security guarantees.
"We are not considering signing any agreements without security guarantees, and of course, today, during two weeks of intensive work between the governments of the United States and Ukraine on the agreement on our economic cooperation, we have actually worked out the final version. As of today, this agreement is called the Agreement on Establishing the Rules and Conditions of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine. And in fact, this is a preliminary agreement that provides for legal action - this is the future creation of an investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine, where both Ukraine and the United States will manage this fund on an equal footing, fill it... This agreement is directly tied to security guarantees, neither the President nor the government will consider this agreement and its signing in isolation from security guarantees for Ukraine," the Prime Minister said.
Shmyhal noted that the preamble to the agreement states that it is taken into account that the American people want to invest together with Ukraine in a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine.
He added that in this preliminary agreement, paragraph 10 states that this agreement on the fund is an integral element of the architecture of bilateral and multilateral agreements, as well as specific steps to establish lasting peace, strengthen economic and security stability and reflect the goals set out in the preamble to this agreement, and the U.S. government supports Ukraine's efforts to obtain security guarantees necessary to create lasting peace.
At the same time, Shmyhal noted that security guarantees for Ukraine are President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's victory plan, where the first point is NATO for Ukraine or other strong security guarantees.
He also said that the agreement is about establishing the rules and conditions of the reconstruction investment fund in order to deepen the partnership between the U.S. and Ukraine.
"Ukraine's contribution is considered to be part of our future income... That is, future income received by Ukraine from rents or licenses for minerals, from dividends on infrastructure facilities used for the transportation or extraction of the relevant minerals. This will be Ukraine's contribution. We will invest 50% of such income in this joint fund for the recovery of Ukraine with the United States," the Prime Minister said.
According to him, the United States will also make corresponding contributions for its part.
Such a fund will invest these funds from Ukraine and the United States in the development of Ukraine, in recovery and security.
"The fund will be managed by the governments of Ukraine and the United States, this is joint management. And accordingly, the reinvested income that is contributed to the fund will be reinvested. All decisions will be made with the consent of both participants," Shmyhal said.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on February 24, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration - Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna reported that the Ukrainian and U.S. teams are in the final stages of negotiations on a minerals agreement.
According to American media reports, U.S. President Donald Trump is expecting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit the U.S. on February 28 to sign a minerals agreement.