Ukraine signs two additional mineral agreements with US
Ukraine signed two additional agreements with the United States to activate the American-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund, aimed at joint mineral resource development, the Ministry of Economy announced during a press briefing, hromadske’s correspondent reports.
Ukrainian officials met with the U.S. chargé d’affaires, delivering a diplomatic note confirming Ukraine’s completion of its obligations for the fund.
The supplementary agreements, one 60 pages and the other 20 pages, were finalized between Ukraine’s Public-Private Partnership Agency and the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
These documents, alongside the primary agreement ratified by the Verkhovna Rada on May 8, constitute 95% of the regulatory framework for the minerals deal, per the government’s statement.
The next steps involve the United States finalizing formal procedures and both sides completing technical processes, including selecting three representatives each for the fund’s governing board, which will oversee its operations.
More about the deal
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signed an agreement between the two countries on April 30 to establish a Reconstruction Investment Fund. It became known in the media as the “subsoil agreement” or “minerals agreement,” as it concerns the extraction of minerals on the territory of Ukraine. Its text was published on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers.
As Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted, the document is based on five key principles:
- The fund is created on a 50/50 basis, and both parties have equal voting rights.
- Ukraine retains full control over its subsoil, infrastructure, and natural resources.
- New investments, not debts: the agreement does not provide for any debt obligations.
- The fund will invest in projects and guarantee commercial purchases of products on a "take or pay" basis.
- The agreement will not constitute an obstacle to Ukraine's accession to the EU.
Read more about the content of the agreement and what Ukraine will receive from it in our article.
