On December 10, 2020, the President of the Ukrainian World Congress, Paul Grod, and the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, held a video conference and signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between the UWC and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
Key topics of the meeting included building an international coalition of support for Ukraine and protection from Russian aggression, strengthening Ukraine through joint counteraction to the pandemic and economic crisis, returning Ukrainians to Ukraine, in particular by creating conditions at the legislative level and finalizing a bill on multiple citizenship.
The UWC and the Ukrainian government agreed to cooperate in the following areas: public diplomacy; humanitarian cooperation to combat the ongoing spread of COVID-19; development of Ukrainian education internationally; and the construction and development of key cultural projects and memorials of international and national significance, in particular, the National Museum of the Holodomor.
Among the many important issues outlined in the Memorandum, the parties will develop and maintain collaboration in the following areas:
- Defending Ukraine’s international interests and deepening Ukraine’s mutually beneficial cooperation with the governments and societies of foreign countries in which Ukrainians live – expressly the promotion of Ukraine’s interests in business circles and financial institutions;
- Development of the Ukrainian nation, the international Ukrainian community, and interethnic relations;
- Development of Ukraine’s trade and economic relations with other countries;
- Involvement of Ukrainians from abroad in state-building processes;
- Attracting investments into Ukraine’s economy;
- Protection of Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by the Russian Federation for political reasons, with the goal of their release;
- Development of relations between Ukraine and foreign Ukrainians in the fields of education, culture, youth, physical activity and sports, national-patriotic education, and mass media;
- International recognition of the Holodomor of 1932–1933 as a genocide of the Ukrainian people.
“The importance of signing a Memorandum of Cooperation today is extremely high. The world and Ukraine are in turbulence caused by the global pandemic and aggression of the Russian Federation, and only a consolidated effort to support Ukraine will help meet today’s challenges,” stated UWC President, Paul Grod.
“Signing and further implementing the provisions of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Ukrainian World Congress will facilitate interaction of the Ukrainian state with Ukrainians living abroad, protect the rights and interests of Ukrainians abroad, promote Ukraine in the world,” – mentioned Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine.
