International Technical Assistance (ITA) – the resources and services which, in accordance with international treaties of Ukraine, are provided by donors on a free-of-charge and irrevocable basis with the purpose of supporting Ukraine. Ukraine attracts the ITA in the form of:
- any property necessary in order to ensure that the implementation of the project tasks, which is imported to or acquired in Ukraine;
- works and services;
- intellectual property rights;
- financial resources in national or foreign currency;
- other resources which are not prohibited by law.
The state of Ukraine’s technical and economic cooperation with other countries and international organisations
The ITA has been granted to Ukraine on a free-of-charge and irrevocable basis by donor countries and international organisations since 1992. The assistance is provided to Ukraine in almost all spheres of the economy and social life by donor countries and international organisations. As part of providing international technical assistance to Ukraine, cooperation is carried out with 15 countries, the European Union and more than 20 international organisations.
The largest donors to Ukraine have been and remain the United States and the European Union. Other donors include Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Denmark, and the United Nations organisations, the World Bank, the EBRD and the OECD.
Currently, basic organisational and legal principles of technical cooperation with donor countries and international organisations are governed by 18 of Ukraine’s international framework agreements and international agreements on the implementation of cooperation programmes in various sectors of the economy. Objectives andtargets of the assistance are agreed upon at both the intergovernmentalandinteragencylevels.
Every year, a delelopment of the international treaty legal framework of cooperation is observed. Thus, in 2012 alone, 16 programme and project documents on technical cooperation with the EU, USA, Germany, China, Sweden, and the IBRD were signed.
On 20 October, 2011, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the Concept of Planning, Attracting, Effective Use and Monitoring of International Technical Assistance and Cooperation with International Financial Institutions, which constitutes the basis for the development of a new strategy aimed at attracting international technical assistance and cooperation with international financial institutions.
In accordance with the Concept, the key priorities for economic and social development of Ukraine for 2013-2016, the implementation of which will require the attraction of international technical assistance and financial resources of MFIs, will be:
- facilitation of the creation of conditions for economic and social development;
- modernisation of transport, municipal and energy infrastructure;
- the development of high-tech manufacturing;
- energy saving and energy efficiency;
- the development of agriculture and integrated development of rural areas;
- the development of the internal market;
- improvement of social standards;
- strengthening of the role of the regions in ensuring economic development and increasing the responsibility for solving social problems;
- improvement of public administration system;
- protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens; strengthening the rule of law;
- management of state borders of Ukraine and the support of the implementation of migration policy.
In all the years of cooperation, donors provided over 8 billion US dollars. Since 1996, 2771 technical assistance projects have been formally registered. Annually, Ukraine receives technical assistance of approximately 500 million US dollars.
A significant increase in the activation of ITA projects was observed in 2011 ( from 48 to 80 projects), and each year, the number of such projects increased almost 2-fold.
As of 1 July, 2014, 321 ITA projects with a total contract value of more than $ 3.4 billion, are being implemented (including the ‘Ukrytiye’ [‘Shelter] fund in the amount of over 2.2 billion euros), 145 of which were launched in 2012. The figure below shows a list of organisations which provide ITA to Ukraine.
For more detailed information, please contact:
Victor Maziarchuk, [email protected]
The Open Dialog Foundation