MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/. Ukraine will annually contribute up to 2 billion hryvnias ($48.2 million) to its joint fund with the US, which will be created as part of the minerals deal, said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Taras Kachka, who participated in the negotiations with Washington.
"Ukraine will make contributions from future payments it received for the sale of licenses for the extraction of minerals. For example, a new deposit is launched under a new license, rent will be paid to the budget, and we can transfer half of it to the fund. With the highest expectations, this is about 1-2 billion hryvnias per year," he told the Obshchestvennoye publication.
According to him, the fund will receive "so-called startup money from the US to launch the fund, and some additional financing may come in depending on the aggressiveness of the fund's investment policy."
Ukraine-US minerals deal
On May 1, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Economic Minister Yulia Sviridenko confirmed the signing of the minerals deal with the United States in a post on Facebook (banned in Russia, owned by the Meta corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).
The agreement envisages the creation of a joint investment fund. According to the document, Ukraine will bring into the fund 50% of all incomes generated by new licenses for extracting minerals at new areas. The United States and Ukraine will have equal votes in managing the fund. The agreement envisages no direct Ukrainian liabilities to the United States.
US military aid to the Kiev government, including air defense systems, may be counted as its contribution into the fund. The agreement applies to all natural resources mined on Ukraine’s territory, including oil and gas. The country’s state-run mining and processing companies will remain the property of the Ukrainian government.
For the first ten years of its operation, the fund will pay no dividends, and all its incomes will be re-invested in projects exclusively on the territory of Ukraine, including for prospecting and processing of mineral resources and infrastructure development.