When answering the interpellation of members of the Riigikogu at today's sitting of the Riigikogu, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Information Technology Tiit Riisalo said that the issue of the reconstruction of Ukraine was becoming increasingly relevant.

Members of the Riigikogu Aleksei Jevgrafov, Ester Karuse, Enn Eesmaa, Lauri Laats, Vadim Belobrovtsev and Aleksandr Tšaplõgin had submitted an interpellation concerning the reconstruction of Ukraine (No. 203) to ask whether the Government was planning to develop measures to support the participation of Estonian businesses in the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Riisalo assured that ministries were cooperating to help Ukraine and the issue of the reconstruction of Ukraine was becoming increasingly relevant. According to him, the Government has repeatedly discussed opportunities to involve Estonian businesses into the reconstruction of Ukraine, in particular with the ministries that are more connected with that. “On 4 January, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna brought the issue of the reconstruction of Ukraine to the Government cabinet meeting, and we have a clear understanding and framework for this at Government level,” Riisalo confirmed.

“I firmly think that Ukraine needs to be helped as much as possible and that our businesses definitely need to be involved for this. Ukraine is a priority country for Estonian development cooperation and business diplomacy,” Riisalo emphasised. “The reconstruction of Ukraine has become a central focus for Estonia’s policy on Ukraine, and it will definitely grow in importance after Ukraine wins. The reconstruction is going to take a long time and be resource-intensive. In order to increase its contribution and impact, Estonia has been among the first to engage in the reconstruction of Ukraine with specific principles and an action plan. Estonia could be one of the leaders in this issue in the future as well.”

Riisalo noted that Estonia had been among the first to provide military help to Ukraine as well as to reconstruct Ukraine. He gave the example of the kindergarten built in Zhytomyr Oblast. He added that Estonia had also shared its knowledge in education by organising a training aimed at kindergarten teachers there. Riisalo also pointed out the projects of the Estonian Centre for International Development and also mentioned the extensive military and humanitarian aid Estonia had sent.

The Minister of Health Riina Sikkut replied to the interpellation concerning drug-related deaths (No. 496).

The discussion of four interpellations was excluded from the agenda for today’s sitting. Members of the Riigikogu withdrew the interpellations concerning the underfunding of the state infrastructure (No. 418 and No. 424), submitted to the Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets, the interpellation concerning the impact of the green transition on the area of administration of the ministry (No. 309), submitted to the Minister of Health Riina Sikkut, and the interpellation concerning the rise in VAT (No. 466), submitted to the Minister of Economic Affairs and Information Technology Tiit Riisalo.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

Video recording will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.

Riigikogu Press Service
Merilin Kruuse
+372 631 6592, +372 510 6179
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