EBRD and U.K. to develop war risk insurance project to encourage investment in Ukraine

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the British government are to develop a war risk insurance project, Ukraine's Economy Ministry announced on Nov.

2. The project was launched during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London and the ERBD and the U.K. signed a statement of intent on Oct.

31, the Economy Ministry said. The aim is to help private sector companies do business in Ukraine, supporting reconstruction efforts.

The project "shows that our partners understand the critical importance of this area in the context of Ukraine's recovery," Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said. Many businesses struggle to get insurance that covers working or investing in Ukraine, as standard insurances typically exclude damaged caused during war. War risk insurance, however, is specifically designed to protect companies and individuals from damage that can arise from doing business while a country is at war.

"U.K. businesses have the expertise and desire to help Ukraine rebuild," but are held back by a lack of insurance, Business and Trade Minister Timothy Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound said in a statement on Oct.

31. The project will "bring relief to the domestic economy and protect trade activities," EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso added. Dutch Foreign Trade and Development Ministry also announced earlier in October that it will allocate 60 million euros (£64 million) to support Dutch companies that want to invest in the reconstruction of Ukraine.

The money will go towards helping them pay for export credit insurance to covers payment risks of investments and transactions. The fund will make it "more accessible for entrepreneurs to export to and invest in Ukraine," the ministry said.

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News Editor

Elsa Court is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent.

She was previously an intern at the Kyiv Post and has a Master's in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University.

Before joining the Kyiv Independent, she worked at the Netherlands Red Cross programme to arrange hosts for Ukrainian refugees and as a freelance writer and editor.

Elsa is originally from the UK and is based in the Netherlands.