Official Kiev will soon send a delegation to Washington to start negotiating a new project of the Agreement, which will provide the USA with access to mineral resources of Ukraine. This was reported by the first Viceremier and the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Sviridenko in an interview for the Associated Press.
In particular, representatives of several key Ukrainian ministries: economies, finances, foreign affairs and justice will participate in the negotiations. The new agreement proposed by the United States provides for the creation of a joint fund or investment, which will allow US companies to access Ukrainian natural resources, in particular to rare earth metals. However, Sviridenko emphasized that at this stage the document reflects only Washington's position, and this is not the final version of the agreement.
"Work on the previous version of the memorandum showed that Kiev and Washington are able to agree on the conditions that will be acceptable to both parties," Sviridenko said, emphasizing that the agreement is not final. She added that discussing the terms of the agreement is impossible directly in the online space, so the Ukrainian delegation will go to the United States to continue consultations. The expansion of the agreement, which was originally concerned only with rare earth metals, now covers a larger range of mineral resources. Despite the long -term agreement of the conditions, the Ukrainian side continues to require clear security guarantees from the United States. President Zelensky has repeatedly emphasized that Ukraine should not recognize grants as debts, regardless of how it is perceived in the international context.
At the same time, after analyzing the new project of the agreement, government representatives noted that this document is a "step back". However, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sibiga, Ukraine continues to work to ensure that the agreement is mutually acceptable to both parties and does not contradict the country's entry obligation to the European Union.
