Zelensky announced the creation of the "Carpathian Eight"
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the launch of a new international format C8 - the "Carpathian Eight", which unites Ukraine and seven other states of the Carpathian region. The main areas of cooperation should be security, energy, transport logistics, investments, and cross-border economic projects.
The new format includes Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, Austria, and Hungary. The founding summit of the initiative is taking place on September 18-20 in Bukovel, Ivano-Frankivsk region.
"This is a serious start of a movement that should bring our countries even closer and create another strong element of interaction at the EU level - security, energy, significant expansion of logistics and cross-border economic cooperation, and substantial support for our communities", - stated Zelensky.
According to the organizers, C8 should not be only a political platform. The format is designed for joint work of central and local authorities, business, investors, and financial institutions on concrete projects in the Carpathian region.
A separate long-term goal is the creation of a macro-regional strategy of the European Union for the Carpathians. It could become the fifth such EU strategy after the programs for the Baltic Sea, Danube, Adriatic-Ionian, and Alpine regions, and give joint projects access to more systemic European funding.
The economic component of the summit is one of the central ones. The organizers have formed a portfolio of 90 investment projects that seek about $10.7 billion in funding. The largest amount is needed for energy - over $7.2 billion. Other large blocks concern transport and logistics infrastructure, industry, real estate, agri-sector, and healthcare.
At the same time, the broader concept of the Carpathian Integration Initiative has already identified 34 intergovernmental and regional projects with a total cost of about €115 billion. A significant part of them is at the readiness stage or already being implemented.
The initiative also considers the Carpathian region as a single economic space with a combined GDP of eight countries of approximately $3.15 trillion. One of the key tasks is the development of transport and energy corridors between Central and Eastern Europe and the involvement of the countries of the region in the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Leaders of neighboring states arrived in Ukraine for the founding summit. Romanian President Călin Georgescu and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić officially confirmed their participation. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said earlier that he would be in Ukraine on September 18, where he would meet, in particular, with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during the summit.
Within the framework of the meeting, separate events are planned for business, regions, and communities, the Carpathian Economic Forum, investment sessions, and discussions on transport corridors, the energy system, industrial cooperation, tourism, and the access of local producers to the EU single market.
Against the backdrop of the summit, on September 18 the Verkhovna Rada canceled the questioning of the government and scheduled parliamentary work. People's Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak initially reported that the reason was "important international events", and later connected this with the trip of some government officials to Bukovel. At the same time, the parliament did not officially state that the C8 summit was the formal reason for canceling the session.
Among the announced participants of the forum are also the Prime Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Koretskyі, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, Ukrainian ministers and heads of large companies and state enterprises.
Source: Volodymyr Zelensky, Carpathian Integration Initiative
