Estonia to provide EUR 14B to Ukraine annually to support development

EUR 14 million per year of Estonia’s budget funds have been earmarked for aid to Ukraine in addition to military aid and private sector assistance.

That’s according to the ERR agency, Ukrinform reports.

Most of the EUR 14 million batch is earmarked for development cooperation, while EUR 1 million is allocated to humanitarian aid, the report reads.

These funds come in addition to the previously approved military aid package, totaling 0.25 percent of Estonia's GDP.

"The RES (budget strategy document - ed.) provides for EUR 14 million [for Ukraine], and these funds will mainly be used by our implementing agency, the Estonian Center for International Development (ESTDEV)," said Mariin Ratnik, foreign minister deputy secretary general.

"In line with the expectations of the founding principle, we provided ESTDEV with EUR 12.8 million for use, plus in addition, we will use one million of this EUR 14 million total on humanitarian aid in Ukraine, and [the remaining] EUR 200,000 in support of Estonian businesses cooperating with Ukraine," Ratnik went on.

In addition to renewing principles of rebuilding Ukraine, also basically agreed on what could be the areas where Estonia could be successful with its actually rather small amount of money and best support Ukraine," Ratnik added.

Of concrete sectors which will be in need of redevelopment, Ratnik referred to education reform, healthcare system development and digital, tech and cyber solutions, all areas which Estonia once required redevelopment, too.

Construction is also another area where Estonia and Estonian businesses can help, Ratnik said, citing the example of the Estonian-funded kindergarten in the Zhytomyr oblast.

As reported earlier, the World Bank said more than EUR 400 billion is required for Ukraine's post-war reconstruction.