Essential progress

Even though the British people no longer consider Ukraine a poor country, they will continue assisting our country, this time in a new way. The British government has decided to close the UK Department for International Development in Ukraine (DFID), which provides assistance to poor countries. On the one hand, this is proof of the British government’s recognition that Ukraine has essentially advanced on its way from the past to full independence.

“Ukraine has obtained the status of a country with a mid-level per capita income and has essentially advanced on its way to overcoming poverty,” the UK Ambassador to Ukraine Tim Barrow said. On the other hand, he added, the closure of the DFID program does not mean that Britain will completely stop providing assistance to the Ukrainian economy. The UK will continue to support the socioeconomic development of Ukraine via its membership in the European Union, the World Bank, the UN, and other international donor organizations. “In the eyes of the European Commission (EC) Ukraine is a state, support of which is a priority. The total amount of EC support is 120 million euros. More than 17 percent of this sum is provided by Great Britain. Thus, the UK’s participation in helping Ukraine totals nearly 21 million euros, and this support will last even after the DFID program is closed,” the British ambassador said.

Between 1996 and 2006 the UK gave Ukraine 105 million pounds within the framework of a bilateral program.

Pauline Hayes, the head of the DFID Europe and Central Asia Department, told The Day, that the UK’s activity has helped improve the lives of average Ukrainians both in the eastern and western regions of the country. “In the last 17 years Ukraine has achieved extraordinary things that other countries needed centuries to do,” she said.