Japan will pledge 15.8 billion yen ($106 million) in aid to support the reconstruction of Ukraine from war damage in seven fields such as infrastructure rebuilding and demining, sources familiar with the matter said Sunday.
The governments of the two countries are expected to agree on Japan's involvement in the European nation's post-war reconstruction and sign more than 10 memorandums of cooperation at the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Reconstruction slated for Feb. 19 in Tokyo.
The conference in Tokyo to be held ahead of the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 will come at a time concerns are growing about dwindling military support for Ukraine from Western countries.
In January, Tokyo announced a $37 million contribution to a NATO fund to provide additional support for Ukraine, including an unmanned aircraft detection system, but Japan cannot give military assistance under its pacifist Constitution.
The 15.8-billion-yen aid will be used to provide demining equipment and temporary bridges among other resources urgently needed to promote the war-torn country's reconstruction efforts, according to the sources.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Masakazu Tokura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation known as Keidanren, will attend the reconstruction conference along with some 300 other government and corporate officials.
The seven areas of cooperation also include agricultural expansion, improvement of the humanitarian situation, biotechnology and industrial sophistication, information technology, and governance enhancement and anticorruption measures, the sources said.
In an interview with Kyodo News earlier this month, Shmyhal said energy, infrastructure, agriculture, engineering, IT and security were areas where Japanese firms can play a "huge role in assisting the recovery," which the World Bank has estimated will cost $411 billion over the next decade.
Japan aims to show its commitment to supporting Ukraine through the public-private cooperation and will support Japanese firms launching businesses in the country.
The memorandums of cooperation to be signed at the meeting include those related to medical care, cybersecurity and wind farm projects, according to the sources.
Both governments are planning to begin negotiations toward an investment accord aimed at promoting the participation of Japanese companies in reconstruction projects, the sources said.
Japan and Ukraine are also expected to sign a treaty to eliminate double taxation for companies conducting business in Ukraine, they said.
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