On May 20, Ukraine’s Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture Oleksii Sobolev and JICA Vice President Yuko Mitsui discussed creating new markets, upgrading Ukraine’s economy through technology, integrating Japanese technologies into Ukrainian production, and “smart” demining. This is Mitsui’s first official visit to Ukraine.
“Japan is our strategic partner in recovery and development, and we highly value this support. The visit of JICA Vice President Yuko Mitsui marks an important step in structuring our future cooperation. We thank the Government of Japan and JICA for systematic collaboration and readiness to invest not only in rebuilding infrastructure, but also in the long-term transformation of Ukraine’s economy,” Sobolev said.
The meeting focused on humanitarian demining, with ongoing work based on agreements reached at the Ukraine Mine Action Conference in Tokyo last autumn. The government’s goal is not only to import equipment but to integrate Japanese technologies into Ukrainian production, first in demining and later expanding to agriculture and industry.
The government is also working on launching trilateral formats with Colombia and Syria, through which Ukraine will share its demining expertise with Japan’s support. This also opens new markets for Ukrainian demining operators and equipment manufacturers.
Joint work with JICA also focuses on soil restoration, support for small farmers (including women farmers), development of clean technologies, and recycling of debris from destruction.
To enable Ukrainian companies to purchase advanced Japanese equipment, a blended financing mechanism is being developed through the National Development Institution (NDI). Japan is also interested in creating a venture fund to finance joint Ukrainian-Japanese enterprises.
Together with UkraineInvest, JETRO, and JICA, the government is working on launching a Ukrainian hub in Osaka to promote investment opportunities to Japanese businesses, an agreement reached during Expo 2025 in Japan.
The sides also discussed the importance of human capital development, labor markets, employment, and strengthening institutional capacity, where digitalization and technical assistance from partners play a key role.
