Roads, bridges, electrical infrastructure, schools, hospitals, homes, businesses… In Ukraine, the war led by Russia has already caused nearly $100 billion in direct damage, according to World Bank estimates. And the total cost of rebuilding infrastructure could be between $500 billion and $600 billion. A few hours after the end of the international support conference, organized in Paris on Tuesday December 13, and which brought together more than a billion euros in donations to help the country get through the winter, Emmanuel Macron rang the bell. general mobilization of French companies.
“A crucial mobilization”, and this, “without waiting for the end of the war” in the liberated territories, he declared in front of more than 700 leaders of companies of all sizes, gathered in Bercy during a bilateral conference to the resilience and reconstruction of Ukraine. To motivate the troops, the executive took the opportunity to highlight the good students and announce the signing of the first contracts with Ukraine: 20,000 tonnes of rails produced in France by the German company Saarstahl (for an amount of 37.6 million euros) which will make it possible to repair 150 kilometers of railway tracks, 25 kit bridges supplied by the Lot-based company Matière and more than 20 million euros in seeds delivered by the French companies MAS Seeds, Lideas Seeds and RAGT.
Three agreements which will benefit from payment facilities offered by France. In addition to these first contracts, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire also announced the signing of a cooperation agreement in the digital field (cybersecurity, financing of start-ups, training and support, etc.), in which Station F and School 42 were enlisted.
Five priority sectors
After very official speeches and debates involving politicians, representatives of the economic world and international organizations, “dating” sessions between Ukrainian ministers and French economic leaders were organized to “contribute to matching the needs of the Ukrainian economy and the skills of French companies”, according to Bercy, particularly in the field of critical infrastructure, energy, agriculture and agri-food, digital technologies and innovations and health, sectors identified as priorities by the Ukrainian government.
“These are all areas of excellence for French companies, so I call on them to put forward their offers in all these sectors”, insisted Bruno Le Maire, recalling the financing tools made available by the government. A huge market which has enough to whet the appetite of French boxes… If it were not for a certain concern of business leaders who hovered over certain exchanges, who wonder about the risks for the safety of employees who could be deployed…