This week, our association, represented by UVCA Chairman Andriy Kolodyuk, participated in a session on leveraging private investments for Ukraine’s recovery. The event, organised by the European Commission in Brussels, centred on mobilizing foreign direct investment (FDI) for Ukraine's recovery, reconstruction, and integration into the EU single market—an area of critical interest to us now.

During the session, we emphasized the vital role of private equity in driving Ukraine’s economic growth and advocated for greater attention to small-scale projects, which dominate our region. Currently, the European Commission has launched a call for projects targeting deals exceeding the $50 million threshold, which effectively excludes SMEs and smaller funds from participating in the program.

To bridge this gap, we propose expanding the Ukrainian Investment Framework to include a specific program for projects under the $50 million threshold, while also engaging the European Investment Fund (EIF) to deploy capital into funds that already have an active project list. Among them, for example, is a newly established Ukrainian Fund of Funds.

A streamlined approach would involve direct investments in the above funds, which are responsible for managing operational activities like scouting and due diligence. At present, 26 such funds, focused on Ukraine, have a ready-to-execute deal pipeline and an estimated $4 billion in demand.

Rolling out this program would significantly bolster Ukraine's private equity and venture capital industries while solidifying EIF's role as a key market-builder.

We are pleased to report that, by the end of the meeting, European Commission representatives acknowledged the need for this initiative and committed to reviewing it following the results of the current pilot call for projects. A positive and encouraging outcome!

Our sincere thanks to the host and all the participants, including Orest Tokač, Elena Višnar Malinovská, Serhii Tereshko, Maryna Khlystun, Gabriel Blanc, and Elisabeth Szeli.