Blanar: Slovakia Receives €101 mn for Energy Projects to Restore Ukraine

Bratislava, March 31 (TASR) - Slovakia has received funding from the European Union (EU) for energy projects to rebuild Ukraine; €101 million has been earmarked for energy projects for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) said at a press conference on Monday, with Slovakia's Export-Import Bank (Eximbanka) head Rastislav Podhorec in attendance. "The Foreign and European Affairs Ministry with its subordinate organisation, which is the Slovak Agency for International Development Cooperation (SAMRS), applied for a package of €101 million, which is to be spent directly on projects that we've selected as part of the bilateral agreement between the Ukrainian and Slovak governments," said Blanar, adding that 11 entities participated in the EU's call for proposals under the Ukrainian Investment Framework programme. Eight of them were successful, and one of them was Slovakia, while the MFA participated in the call together with Eximbanka. The head of the Foreign Ministry stressed that these projects are good for Slovakia in terms of supporting entrepreneurs who will be involved in the reconstruction of Ukraine. "The energy system is very important, today the Slovak Republic is already supplying Ukraine with a considerable amount of electricity due to the large outages that are caused by the fact that more than 70 percent of the electricity system in Ukraine is destroyed," said Blanar. am