Leading the conference call at the World Economic Forum: a piece of reconstruction for every country. And the Kremlin “checks” the road map of Rome
FROM OUR SEND
DAVOS – Switzerland is organizing the first conference between organizations and countries willing to cooperate in the reconstruction of Ukraine on July 4-5 in Lugano. This was said by Federal President Ignazio Cassis in Davos at the opening of the World Economic Forum. The invitations have already begun at the addresses of about forty governments and it will not be a turning point without consequences, even if there are no signs of a ceasefire for the time being.
The big business of Ukrainian reconstruction, the war damage from which is already estimated at 500 billion dollars, has been a stony guest in the international debate in recent weeks. No one speaks openly about it, but many are considering it because the beneficiary country of the projects will most likely not have the industrial capacity, nor the business, nor perhaps even the manpower to undertake the reconstruction itself, albeit with the resources another. The potential involvement of large developed European countries in projects – hundreds of billions – thus implicitly becomes a factor that counts for the diplomatic efforts of these weeks.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed yesterday in the Davos Forum, where he spoke from his bunker in Kyiv, that he is aware of this. “We have to show that destroying your neighbor with a 500 billion damage war is pointless,” he said. We propose a unique model: each of our partner countries will be able to reconstruct a region, a city, an industry. This approach will attract the best architects, engineers and managers to Ukraine, it will be the most important post-war reconstruction in Europe ». Zelenskyy indicated that he expected proposals from companies “in July in Lugano” and quoted George Marshall, the US Secretary of State, who associated his name with the post-war reconstruction of Europe: “Our policy is not directed against a country but against hunger, poverty, despair ».
On the G7 table is a proposal to use hundreds of billions of euros and dollars from the reserves of the Central Bank of Russia held abroad to finance the projects. But yesterday Zelensky returned in connection with Davos to demand “maximum sanctions” from Moscow. And he didn’t shy away from criticism from the West. “If the pressures of business, public opinion, had been felt earlier and the governments of the free world had acted against Russia first, would the Kremlin have entered this war? The answer is no,” he said. And he added: “Fortunately, we did not listen to those who said that our resistance was not necessary.” The president is unprepared for a peace that will freeze the current situation in the country’s southeast but has recognized that taking Crimea by force would cost thousands of lives, according to Reuters.
He told the Davos audience that he would only meet Putin to talk about the end of the war. And while Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko announced yesterday that Moscow was studying the peace plan drafted by Italy, a new meeting of the Contact Group for Ukraine with 47 countries was held in Ramstein, Germany. Pentagon boss Lloyd Austin was satisfied: “Twenty of them have announced new military aid for Kyiv.” Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini stressed that Italy supports “the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people” and that “every effort must be made to reach serious and concrete peace negotiations”.
May 23, 2022 (Modification May 23, 2022 | 23:44)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED