Ukraine's prime minister and finance officials will visit Washington next week
April 16, 2022, 9:12 am

Ukraine's prime minister and finance officials will visit Washington next week

Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (File photo: Reuters)

The Global News reported, citing Reuters, sources said on Friday (Apr 15) that Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and top Ukrainian finance officials will visit Washington next week during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The sources sai that Shmyhal, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko are slated to meet bilaterally with finance officials from the Group of Seven countries and others, and take part in a roundtable on Ukraine to be hosted by the World Bank on Thursday.

Thursday’s event will be the first chance for key Ukrainian officials to meet in person with a host of financial officials from advanced economies since Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Spillovers from Russia’s war in Ukraine are expected to dominate next week’s meetings of senior economic officials from World Bank and IMF member countries, as well as the G7 and G20, with the IMF poised to downgrade its forecast for global growth as a result of the war.

Russians dropped bombs on 9-storey buildings in Borodianka and those people who were in the basements were buried alive (File photo: Euromaidan Press via Hromadske)

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine on what he calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine.

Kyiv and its Western allies say those are bogus justifications for an unprovoked war of aggression that has driven a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes and led to the deaths of thousands.

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Thursday’s meeting will be more of a roundtable than a donors conference, although both the IMF and World Bank have set up separate accounts to be able to process and relay donations, and additional pledges are expected to be announced next week.

It will give officials a chance to discuss the physical devastation and economic consequences of the war, as well as the continued functioning of Ukraine’s banking and financial sector.

One of the sources said: “Without support now, there will be no reconstruction in the future."

The World Bank had no immediate comment on the event.

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World Bank President David Malpass told an event in Warsaw this week that the bank was preparing a $1.5 billion support package for Ukraine.

The IMF’s executive board last week approved creation of a new account giving bilateral donors and international groups a secure way to send financial resources to Ukraine.

Canada, one of Ukraine’s main supporters, has proposed disbursing up to $1 billion Canadian dollars through the new account, which will be administered by the IMF.

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The account will allow donors to provide grants and loans to help the Ukrainian government meet its balance of payments and budgetary needs and help stabilize its economy as it continues to defend against Russia’s deadly invasion.

Marchenko last week said his government was seeking about 4 billion euros ($4.37 billion) in foreign financing in addition to the about 3 billion euros it has already received to deal with a budget shortfall.

Source: globalnews

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.