Emmanuel Macron praised the role of French companies in Ukraine on Tuesday but asked them to do “more” for the reconstruction of the country “without waiting for the end of the war.” The conflict provoked by Russia, beyond a “gigantic human cost”, “is also causing a very large-scale destruction of homes, commercial buildings, roads, bridges” and other “vital infrastructures”, declared the French president during a conference bilateral event for the resilience and reconstruction of Ukraine organized in Paris.
While the international conference organized in the morning in the French capital with many states and organizations made it possible to generate “more than a billion euros” in emergency contributions to help Kiev get through the winter, Emmanuel Macron addressed the afternoon French companies. . “The mobilization of companies” is “in my eyes crucial”, he launched into the Ministry of Economy, assuring that 700 of them had responded positively to the call for this Franco-Ukrainian conference.
He announced contracts signed for a total of 100 million euros, including the supply of rails, bridges and seeds, as well as a bilateral agreement on sustainable cities with a view to reconstruction.
The “projects continue”
Beyond states and international financial institutions, “it is the companies that will implement in each of the key sectors their technical achievements, their solutions, to help Ukraine’s economic recovery,” he said.
“And this without waiting for the end of the war”: “every time the Ukrainian army liberates a territory, it is essential to start the reconstruction, to recover vital services”, “so that confidence returns”, insisted the French president. . According to him, many French companies “remained” in Ukraine despite the conflict, “projects continue”, others “will resume”.
“You have already done a lot for some of you”, “now we want to do more”, said Emmanuel Macron, stressing that France was before the Russian invasion “an important economic partner of Ukraine, the first international employer in the country”. .
Source: BFM TV
