U.S. State Dept, German Marshall Fund establish project to rebuild Ukraine's cities

MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) - The U.S. State Department and the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) have announced the creation of the Ukraine Cities Partnership for Sustainable Urban Recovery (UCP) project, a new public-private partnership program to help Ukrainians redesign and rebuild sustainable, inclusive and resilient cities.

The U.S. State Department and GMF will collaborate to bring key stakeholders, technical experts, and financial partners to the UCP effort, capitalizing on the energy and ingenuity of businesses and the private sector, universities, non-governmental organizations, and foundations, a State Department statement said.

"Serving as the UCP Secretariat, GMF will forge new transatlantic partnerships, programs, and alliances between European and American entities in order to aid the recovery and redevelopment of up to three Ukrainian cities [these cities are not named in the statement]. In the process, UCP will help empower a new generation of Ukrainian city officials, urban planners, architects, engineers, and construction teams to build back better using sustainable methods," it said.

It is noted that UCP will engage and coordinate with the Ukrainian government, the EU and its members, multilateral development banks and bilateral donors to help beneficiary cities find the resources they need to rebuild.

Conceived as a three-year initiative, UCP will be formally launched at June's Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin and will end when the cities are ready to break ground.