Waste management, water policy reform, and environmental monitoring: Svitlana Grinchuk announced strengthened partnership with the World Bank Ukraine.

We discussed key issues of the environmental agenda with Sameh Naguib Wahba, the Regional Director of the World Bank for Sustainable Development in Europe and Central Asia.

From the main points:

I informed the World Bank team about our Euro-integration reforms. We also touched upon aspects of the negotiation process, specifically in preparing for the screening sessions. We agreed to continue and enhance collaboration on existing areas and to align on ways for the World Bank to provide additional support for our initiatives.

Waste Management. We are interested in developing a project focused on hazardous waste management. This initiative aims to assist Ukraine in preventing environmental impacts from substances such as persistent organic pollutants, polychlorinated biphenyls, mercury, and asbestos. As part of the project, partners plan to offer Ukraine methodological and technical assistance in assessing the volumes of such waste and managing them effectively. (The project budget is nearly $8 million.) We are keen on implementing pilot projects for this initiative and scaling them up in the future within Ukraine.

Water Policy. The water policy reform is one of the most costly among Euro-integration efforts and requires a comprehensive and systematic approach. Implementing the first six-year cycle of nine river basin management plans will need over €8 billion. Additionally, there are many components of the reform. We agreed to collaborate with Winston Yu, the World Bank’s Practice Manager for Water Supply and Sanitation, who will assist in revising the concept of water policy reform in Ukraine.

Creation of a Digital Environmental Monitoring System. I anticipate that the World Bank's experience will aid us in developing a digital system for environmental monitoring. We agreed to move to a technical level of discussion on this possibility.