Kachka: Draft mineral agreement with USA does not provide direct transfer of objects to investment fund
Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka says that the investment fund of Ukraine and the United States, which will be created within the agreement on minerals, will have the right to invest both in the development of deposits and in infrastructure projects: road, port, energy.
"This fund, as a financial instrument, will have the privileged right to invest in a wide range of objects in Ukraine, as soon as there are investment opportunities for this," Kachka, who heads the Ukrainian negotiating delegation, said on the air of a national telethon.
"First of all, it is about minerals, ... but we are also interested in American investments in infrastructure .... In no case does this mean that we are talking about a priori about transferring [infrastructure objects] directly to the fund... It is only about giving this fund the opportunity to invest in projects and... creating conditions for earning for the benefit of Ukraine and the American people," Kachka said.
Regarding the so-called "debt of Ukraine," Kachka said "it must be clearly and unequivocally refuted... we are not talking about some kind of new debt, or the transformation of previous assistance into debt, that is, there is no logic of debt obligations in either the U.S. proposals or, accordingly, in the proposals of Ukraine... it is about... how much both the United States and Ukraine want to earn from investments in Ukraine."
According to him, next week there will be negotiations and "some positive news" regarding military assistance from the United States.
On April 24, the two negotiating teams will continue talks in Washington on the agreement. In the memorandum, according to Kachka, they agreed to report on the achievements on April 26.