These sectors will be needed to rebuild Ukraine

Even though the war is not over, Finnish government agencies and businesses are already planning how they could help Ukraine rebuild afterwards. Businesses can seek both Finnish and international finance for reconstruction projects.

“Planning for the rebuilding of Ukraine began in Finland about half a year ago,” Reijo Kangas, Senior Director at Business Finland says.

Members of the Team Finland network have been involved in the preparation: Business Finland, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Economy and Employment, Confederation of Finnish Industries, Finnvera and the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.

A large group of businesses has also expressed interest in rebuilding Ukraine.

“Finland wants to be well placed when reconstruction begins,” Kangas says.

What types of businesses does Ukraine need?

What Ukraine says it needs is at the core of reconstruction. The Confederation of Finnish industries has charted sectors in which Finnish businesses’ expertise and assistance could be needed in post-war reconstruction.

These sectors include telecoms, energy solutions (such as district heat, nuclear power consultation and smart electrical networks), construction (such as schools and modular housing), design (such as bridges and specialist hospitals), low carbon industrial plant and machinery (such as in the mining industry), water and sanitation, and health technology (such as specialised hospitals and hospital equipment).

The Confederation of Finnish Industries is coordinating collaboration between Finnish businesses and Finnish government agencies, as well as with Ukrainian businesses, for its own part.

“The future reconstruction projects are going to be huge. That is why we would like to see businesses with experience of international markets, and in particular of the post-Soviet space, get involved. We welcome expertise in the form of both large companies and SMEs,” Kangas says.

Oskari Laukkanen, a specialist at Team Finland who works in the foreign ministry’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia unit, says that what Finnish experts have to offer is well suited to Ukraine’s needs.

“In reconstruction, the same know-how that Finland had offered Ukraine before the war will go a long way. These sectors include water and sanitation, energy, education and school construction,” Laukkanen says.

Who should I contact if I want to get involved?

What should a business do if it wants to get involved in planning reconstruction? Kangas says that thousands of Finnish businesses have an ongoing business relationship with Finnvera, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment or Business Finland. Kangas encourages businesses to express their interest to these organizations when they interact with them as usual.

Team Finland has established a Ukraine Desk. It compiles names and skills of Finnish businesses interested in reconstruction in a customer relationship register. In addition, the Desk compiles requests for proposals coming from Ukraine and manages general communications.

Finnish and international finance

At present, Team Finland is compiling and developing a range of finance solutions that Finnish businesses can use to fund their involvement in the reconstruction.

For example, businesses may apply for funding from Business Finland. Companies can form groups which apply jointly for Group Explorer funding, for example.

One funding instrument is the Finnpartnership business partnership support.

“Finnish companies can use it to form long-term partnerships with Ukrainian companies,” Laukkanen says.

He says that several companies have expressed interest in this instrument.

“Ukrainian labour and Finnish tech know-how are a good combination. For Ukraine, it is very important that the country is rebuilt by Ukrainians,” Laukkanen says.

Other funding instruments have been designed, such as the export funding which considers the risks of Ukraine.

Laukkanen says that international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will play a significant role in the future in rebuilding Ukraine and channelling finance into the country. The Team Finland network aims to advise Finnish businesses on how they can get involved in these institutions’ projects.

Reconstruction to cost hundreds of billions of euro

Various estimates put the total cost of the reconstruction of Ukraine at hundreds of billions of euro. The process could take decades. Real work can only begin once the war has ended.

“At present, we are monitoring the situation in Ukraine and we’ll see how the peace process begins,” Reijo Kangas says.

Oskari Laukkanen says that now is a good time to chart the Ukrainian market and business partners.

“If we only get out of the traps when the war ends, it will be too late,” he says.

Donations of family homes, transformers and heating plants

Even though real work on reconstruction contracts can only begin when the war ends, Finland has sent significant volumes of various kinds of help for Ukraine’s acute needs. Both the Finnish state and companies have made donations.

For example, the foreign and interior ministries have donated high-quality, container-based family dwellings for 200 Ukrainians who have been made homeless and ten protected accommodation blocks for rescuers in the Kyiv region.

“The Finnish energy sector’s donations have also been significant. In that regard, we are one of the top countries in Europe. For example, we’ve sent a lot of transformers to Ukraine. A lot of those were destroyed last winter during the war,” Laukkanen says.

In February, Yrittäjät.fi reported on the company Höyrytys Oy from Kerava, which donated one million euro’s worth of heat and steam plant to Ukraine.

The equipment can heat between 150 and 200 blocks of flats. The donation will be of assistance for years to come. The machinery can be used to heat hospitals, shops, factories, service centres and government offices.

The heat and steam equipment will help the country both in its acute needs during the war and when rebuilding its severely damaged energy system during post-war reconstruction.

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