Australian investors have started a fund to help Ukraine rebuild critical infrastructure
Australian private investors have committed more than $740 million to set up a fund for Ukraine to rebuild critical infrastructure destroyed by war and become a “leading digital green economy”.
National
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Australian private investors have committed more than $740 million to set up a fund for Ukraine to rebuild critical infrastructure destroyed by war and become a “leading digital green economy”.
Mining billionaire and philanthropist Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the Tattarang Group investment to establish a Ukraine Green Growth Initiative, at the New Economy Forum in Singapore on Thursday.
The $740m (US$500m) contribution will seed a minimum $25 billion and is expected to grow to US$100bn.
Mr Zelensky said he and Mr Forrest had agreed they would not replace “communist era rubbish Russian infrastructure”.
“Instead we will leapfrog to the latest technology,” Mr Zelensky said.
“We will take advantage of the fact that what the Russians have destroyed can readily be replaced with the latest, most modern green and digital infrastructure.”
The announcement comes amid increased tensions in the region after an explosion over the border in Poland killed two people this week.
Early assessments have indicated the incident was an accident as the missile came from Ukrainian air defence responding to a Russian attack on critical infrastructure.
Mr Zelensky said the innovative initiative would “facilitate the world’s first green digital economy” and the “fastest growing economy in Europe, if not the world”.
“The whole world can see how Russia, unable to win on the battlefield, terrorises civil infrastructure,” he said.
“The price of reconstruction is growing with each new strike.
“One day the aggressor will pay for everything in full, but our people cannot wait for electricity and heat for months.”
Mr Zelensky said Ukraine’s infrastructure must be restored “now”.
“Together we will not only rebuild Ukraine, protecting people’s lives, but also make it an attractive place for global business,” he said.
Mr Forrest said the investment fund would help to “step beyond the wire lines of the past and accelerate digital communications development”.
“The US$25bn Ukraine Green Growth Initiative will be the home of professional and sovereign investment with the aim of helping rebuild Ukraine in one generation, while delivering returns to investors,” he said.
“We will seed the Initiative with a US$500 million investment.
“I invite professional investors, fund managers and sovereign funds and all who believe invading another country should now be forever consigned to the historical garbage bin of humanity’s worst mistakes, to join us.”
Mr Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group would not get any immediate benefit from the deal as the funding is through his family private investment arm, Tattarang.
This investment fund will focus on primary infrastructure such as energy and communications to build a digital green grid, and is designed to support Ukrainian jobs and businesses.
Additional investors are also expected to contribute.
Mr Forrest consulted with a number of world leaders before establishing the fun, including briefing US President Joe Biden, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann.
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