The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s legislature, will decide whether to ratify the joint US-Ukraine mineral deal penned in Washington in its first vote on May 8, with two additional votes by lawmakers only deciding follow-on details of what would already be a binding agreement.
Lawmakers Oleksiy Goncharenko and Yaroslav Zheleznyak confirmed it on their respective Telegram channels after Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal briefed lawmakers this morning.
Specifically, the lawmakers are set to vote on the paper signed on April 30 that establishes the framework for the deal via a “Reconstruction Investment Fund,” which the Ministry of Economy has likened to a “special vehicle” for future investments in an exclusive comment to the Kyiv Post.
The paper will be followed by two other agreements on the technical details required to implement the deal, one of which will be established by Ukraine’s Agency on Support [of] Public-Private Partnership and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) on how the fund works.
According to Zheleznyak, Shmyhal told lawmakers that the Ukrainian delegation will return to the country next week to provide details on the other two documents, but the first paper should be ratified before the other two are signed.
Shmyhal added that only the first document will need ratification, as he said the other two “are of an implementation nature.”
Zheleznyak, who earlier said the ratification would likely take place on May 13 at the earliest, said Shmyhal did not respond to his question on whether lawmakers will see all three documents before voting.
He also asked Shmyhal if the May 8 deadline is “realistic,” to which the latter said he would be grateful for a speedy process.
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers already submitted the bill to the parliament on Thursday.
Once the papers are signed, the legislative bodies of Ukraine and the US will be tasked to amend laws as necessary to enact the agreement, as detailed in an earlier Kyiv Post analysis.
On Wednesday, April 30, Ukraine and the US formalized a comprehensive agreement on mineral resources, granting investors access to dozens of critical raw materials while stipulating that future military aid will be counted towards the US contribution to the fund.
Kyiv Post explained all key parts of the deal in a separate article.