Ukraine says it has signed outline of minerals deal with US
Ukraine and the United States have signed a memorandum as an initial step towards the clinching of an agreement on developing minerals in the country, Kyiv’s first deputy prime minister and economy minister said, according to Al Jazeera.
“We are happy to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a Memorandum of Intent, which paves the way for an Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine,” Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on the social media platform X.
Kyiv and Washington had discussed signing a deal on extracting Ukraine’s strategic minerals in February, but a clash between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy temporarily derailed work on the agreement.
Trump says he wants the deal, designed to give the US royalty payments on profits from Ukrainian mining of resources and rare minerals, as compensation for aid given to Ukraine by his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Svyrydenko did not publish details of the memorandum, but said work continued towards securing a final agreement.
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