Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2022) on 4 and 5 July 2022 in Lugano

The Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2022) took place in Lugano, Switzerland on 4 and 5 July 2022. This event replaced the fifth Ukraine Reform Conference (URC2022) scheduled before the Russian attack. The path to the reconstruction of Ukraine will require a broad-based political and diplomatic process. Switzerland and Ukraine launched this process in Lugano.

As the IPE has been involved in Ukraine for 13 years as part of its Democracy in Education scheme, four colleagues from the Ukrainian and Swiss teams were invited by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs to participate in the conference. They were Valentina Poltorak and Iuliia Molchanova from Ukraine and Iris Henseler Stierlin and Rolf Gollob from Zurich.

The conference focused on Ukraine’s reconstruction and development plan and the contributions by international partners. It was jointly organised by Ukraine and Switzerland. In hosting URC2022, Switzerland supported a country affected by what is today the only armed conflict on European soil. Before the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, Switzerland was the fifth largest bilateral donor to the country. Moreover, Ukraine is one of the few countries in which Switzerland uses all the instruments of its international cooperation strategy (development cooperation, humanitarian aid and peacebuilding).

Holding the conference in Switzerland made it possible to promote an inclusive approach with shared responsibility. In this way, Switzerland was able to put its know-how, its commitment and its unique position as a European country that is neither a member of the EU nor NATO at the service of Ukraine.

The URC2022 was attended by 58 international delegations as well as representatives from the private sector and civil society.

The conference in Lugano focused on discussing reconstruction priorities and coordinating support. The agenda included, in particular, an exchange on priorities, methods and principles of reconstruction and the design of reconstruction in the areas of infrastructure, economy, environment and social affairs.

At the end of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2022), Switzerland and Ukraine, with the support of international partners, presented the “Lugano Declaration” on Tuesday, 5 July 2022. The document provides the framework for the political process of the reconstruction of Ukraine and contains the “Lugano Principles” as common benchmarks for the future.

The “Lugano Declaration” makes it clear that Ukraine is steering the process, but also states that reforms must continue. An important shared idea is to “build back better” and the conviction that reconstruction on the one hand and reforms, the fight against corruption, transparency and the safeguarding of an independent judiciary on the other are not in competition with each other, but are mutually dependent.