Ukraine to join Interreg Europe program by end of 2023 - deputy PM

MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Ukraine will become part of the Interreg Europe trans-border cooperation program this year, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishina said.

"Ukraine will become part of the major program Interreg Europe this year, which will enable it not only to take part in projects in Europe, but also develop its own projects together with regions and secure their financing by the European Union," Ukrainian media quoted Stefanishina as saying at a conference dealing with a roadmap for decentralization reform.

It is of key importance for Ukrainian communities to work with EU funds, whose budgets are substantially larger than the funding that communities receive from the Ukrainian budget, considering its deficit amid martial law, Stefanishina said.

"In the past few years, we have become part of all possible programs opening financing for regions," Stefanishina said.

"The only thing that is required from regions is solvency. We see that it's precisely regions that have assumed an active position and shaped their own solvency that are capable now to make up for insufficient financing in areas that are not fully funded from the state budget," she said.

As reported earlier, in December 2022, the European Commission authorized four new EU trans-European cooperation programs for balanced development (Interreg) worth 533 million euros and designed for 2021-2027, involving ten EU member states, as well as Ukraine and Moldova.