Ukraine and the EU signed five agreements on cooperation in various fields at once as part of a two-year plan for integration into the European Union, Prime Minister Denys Shmigal announced on his Telegram channel .
One of the documents – an agreement on Ukraine’s participation in the EU program “Digital Europe” (2021-2027) – is part of the digital visa-free regime with the EU. The Digital Europe Program has a budget of 7.5 billion euros for the development of projects in five areas.
Starting this fall and until 2027, Ukrainian companies will be able to apply for funding. Approximately 6 billion euros are provided for financing projects in the indicated and accessible areas of the Program for Ukraine. They will be allocated within 7 years.
In total, four main areas are available for Ukraine in which funding can be obtained:
Well
Python evening
Learn how to program Python in a course with guaranteed training
REGISTER!
- High-performance computer – 2.2 billion euros. Projects that compute big data for economic, healthcare, or defense industry decisions can be represented here.
- Artificial intelligence, data and cloud services – 2.1 billion euros. Projects that create products based on artificial intelligence to facilitate the work of enterprises, government administrations or research institutions can be presented here.
- Digital skills – 580 million euros. Projects that create opportunities for acquiring new IT skills can apply here.
- The use of digital technologies in the economy and society – 1.1 billion euros. Projects that introduce digitalization in business or in the field of e-government, healthcare, environment, education and culture, Smart City technologies can be submitted here.
- Cybersecurity (the direction is closed for non-EU countries).
The participation of countries in the Program is subject to the payment of contributions. But the EU exempted Ukraine from paying them in 2021-2022 and provided a 95% discount on financial contributions during 2023-2027. In autumn , new work programs, competition offers and details on how to apply for participation in the program will be available on the Digital Europe website. For more details on funding, follow this link .
The remaining four agreements relate to cooperation in the customs, tax and budgetary areas:
- The agreement on Ukraine’s participation in the EU program for cooperation in the customs sphere will start customs visa-free with the EU from October 1, and this agreement allows Ukraine to join the program of cooperation in the customs sphere with a budget of almost 1 billion euros. This will improve the skills of Ukrainian customs officers, participate in the development and use of European electronic systems.
- Agreement on Ukraine’s participation in the EU tax cooperation program Fiscalis – the State Tax Service of Ukraine will be able to exchange experience and data with the EU. This also allows the use of modern European IT systems in the field of taxation.
- An agreement to provide Ukraine with budgetary support for 500 million euros – the funds will be used to provide housing for internally displaced persons, as well as to support small farmers so that they can continue and develop their business.
- The agreement, thanks to which the European Commission increases the budget for grants for Ukraine by 122 million euros, will ensure funding for priority projects for Ukraine and speed up their receipt due to the fact that grants can be provided directly to state authorities, local governments and public organizations.
As Schmihal noted, these five agreements are an important element of the two-year plan for integration into the European Union.
Recall that at the end of June it received the status of a candidate country for EU membership and since then we have concluded a number of important agreements, in particulartransport visa-free travel, energy visa-free travel and customs visa-free travel. These agreements bring our country closer to joining the European Union, contribute to stability in the war against the Russian aggressor and the rapid recovery of the economy.
Ukraine is a candidate for EU membership
