JAPAN PLANS TO SUPPORT MARIUPOL REBORN IN POST-DE-OCCUPATION RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
In Kyiv, as part of the Mariupol Reborn project, Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boichenko and Natalia Yemchenko, a member of the Supervisory Board of NGO “Mariupol.Reborn”, met with Iijima Yasumasa, Deputy Head of the Mission of Japan to Ukraine, and top managers of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. The delegation visited one of the capital's I’Mariupol centers and got acquainted with the work on supporting internally displaced people.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) aims to promote international cooperation as well as the healthy development of the Japanese and global economy by supporting the socio-economic development, recovery or economic stability of developing regions. The municipality's team, led by Mayor Vadym Boichenko, proposed several areas of support for Mariupol residents to representatives of the Japanese Embassy and JICA executives. These include the following:
- «I'Mariupol»: areas of cooperation were proposed to support Mariupol residents through the centers «I'Mariupol».
- Participation in the development of the Mariupol Reborn city recovery plan: obtaining expertise from leading Japanese experts on the formation of a new economic model for the city; expanding the circle of partner cities of the Mariupol revival project, signing declarations of solidarity with Japanese cities.
- Temporary housing for Mariupol residents: partner participation in the reconstruction of dormitories into temporary social housing for Mariupol residents.
During the meeting, preliminary agreements were reached to consider the possibility of joining the Mariupol Reborn project and to help reconstruct temporary housing.
We are currently looking for partners to repair and reconstruct five dormitories in different cities of Ukraine where Mariupol residents live. The housing will be provided to people from the most vulnerable categories of the population, the vast majority of whom are mothers with small children. The enemy deliberately destroyed Mariupol. More than 200,000 people have left the russian-occupied city. At least 120,000 of them are now on the government-controlled territory of Ukraine. Therefore, I am very grateful to the Embassy of Japan and representatives of the Japanese international cooperation community for their attention to the problems of Mariupol residents and support of our projects
The expertise of the country's post-war development and, in particular, the reconstruction of the Japanese city of Kobe will be very useful for Mariupol. As one of the country's largest port cities, 70% of its infrastructure was destroyed by air raids during World War II. Kobe also suffered great damage during the earthquake in 1995, but having already gained good experience, it quickly recovered. Today, Kobe is a large commercial city, with the main sectors of the economy being the food industry, pharmaceutical industry, fashion and tourism. Kobe is home to more than 100 representative offices of world-famous international companies.
In the 1950s, Japan experienced rapid and sustained economic development. It is also called the 'Japanese economic miracle'. The Japanese managed to quickly rebuild the cities destroyed during World War II by creating a new economic policy model that enabled growth at an average rate of 9% annually. And the main secret of this model was the fruitful interaction between the state and business. This is what we want to implement in Ukraine. Rinat Akhmetov's SCM became the first systemic partner of the Mariupol Reborn project because it is about social responsibility of business and the formula for success in rebuilding Ukraine after the war
Reference. The Mariupol Reborn project is being implemented by the Mariupol City Council with the investment support of Rinat Akhmetov's SCM and international donors.
