Energy emergency in Ukraine. Minister Tajani co-chaired with Secretary of State Blinken the “G7 plus” meeting on the energy sector in Ukraine

As part of the High-Level Week of the 79th United Nations General Assembly, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Antonio Tajani, co-chaired with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken a Ministerial meeting of the "G7+ Energy" group, dedicated to ways of supporting Ukraine's energy networks. Besides the G7 countries (USA, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy), the Summit was attended by Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden.

Minister Tajani said: "Since the beginning of this conflict, Russia has consistently targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, often depriving the civilian population of essential services and putting the safety of nuclear facilities at risk. With the G7+ partners, we want to support and revive Ukraine's energy sector."He underlined: "As winter is approaching, we want to increase our assistance to Kyiv in the energy field. The Italian production system is fully equipped to meet Ukrainian needs and has already been fully involved. In 2025 Italy will host the Conference for the Reconstruction of Ukraine. The issues of energy resilience and the safety of plants and of the electricity grid will play a fundamental role in the reconstruction process that we will explore in Rome next year together with the partners."

The Council of Ministers has recently adopted a bill concerning the co-financing of Italy and the EBRD for the reconstruction of the electricity system in Ukraine. This financing - amounting to 200 million euros, of which 100 million from Italian Cooperation -aims to restore the energy capacity of Ukrhydroenergo, the main Ukrainian hydroelectric company, after the destruction of the Nova Khakovka dam.

A joint declaration will be adopted at the end of the meeting.