Key environmental issues: Svetlana Grinchuk discussed her meeting with Finnish partners.

Over the course of a month, this marks the third meeting with our Finnish partners to address pressing issues in the field of environmental protection.

Following the working visit of the Ukrainian government delegation to Helsinki in October of this year, we have continued our collaboration by launching a joint project between the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Finnish Meteorological Institute, with the support of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As agreed with my colleague Kai Mykkänen, we are initiating close cooperation with representatives from Finnish businesses who can assist in advancing environmental initiatives.

We discussed the prospects for our collaboration, which align with Point 8 of the Peace Formula proposed by Volodymyr Zelensky and the existing Memorandum between our countries. In addition to the co-chair from Finland working on Point 8 of the Peace Formula, we also have numerous environmental initiatives involving our specialists. Therefore, the expertise of businesses is extremely important to us.

Among the guests at the ministry were representatives from the Finnish public-private sector, including leadership from the Finnish National Emergency Supply Agency, as well as executives from companies such as Destia, Nocca, and Söderberg & Partners, with organizational support from Miltton Group. This serves as a significant argument for Ukraine as a strong player on the international stage.

I specifically addressed the challenges facing the energy system due to Russian attacks on infrastructure, as well as the difficulties in documenting damage resulting from hostilities. The relevant topics for collaboration between Ukraine and Finland that we are developing, despite ongoing military actions, include:

• improving water quality and access to water, particularly for frontline areas;
• reforming environmental monitoring;
• managing forest resources during wartime, when forests are suffering from destruction due to military actions and fires;
• reforming climate policy;
• waste management and implementing our reform;
• investments in the development of critical materials in Ukraine (for which we already have improved legislation).

I thank the representatives of the Finnish delegation for your efforts and ideas for development. It is extremely important to have allies who engage with us in dialogue not only abroad but also in Kyiv, despite the dangers.