Today there is an opportunity to turn Ukraine into global leader in metallurgy – Yuriy Ryzhenkov

The concept of turning Ukraine’s steel industry “green” and of “green” metallurgy was presented for the first time during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.

Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Group, made this statement this during a briefing at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“Today, for the first time, there was a presentation of the concept of “green metallurgy,” the reconstruction of Ukraine and the transformation of the steel industry of Ukraine into a “green” industry, a decarbonized industry. I think it’s quite interesting. This opportunity, unfortunately, arose as a result of the war, but it is a very interesting opportunity that can make Ukrainian metallurgy a global leader in metallurgy,” he said.

Yuriy Ryzhenkov emphasized that today the whole world is on the path of decarbonization, the path of “green” steel, and Ukraine has an opportunity to start with a clean sheet and do everything right from the very beginning. According to him, all metallurgists, equipment manufacturers, as well as customers who were present at the conference are interested in this moving forward.

“There are a lot of issues that will need to be resolved, including regulatory issues, cost of capital issues, but first, we need to end this war, we need to win this war, and then start building. But, I think that preparatory steps can be taken now, and this is what the participants of this round table agreed on,” he said.

Yuriy Ryzhenkov noted that in the matter of “green” steel, Ukraine has opportunities to become a fierce competition on the European market. In turn, European partners show their interest.

“All foreign partners understand that when Ukraine becomes part of the European Union – and it will become part of the European Union immediately after the victory – they understand that it must be rebuilt immediately as an integral part of the European Union, an integral part of European production chains. And that is why they are interested in building on those strong things that Ukraine has. This is iron ore, these are people who know how to work, and the sources of renewable electricity and other things that can provide Ukraine with the opportunities to become competitive on the EU “green” steel market,” he added.

As reported, on June 21-22, 2023, the UK in partnership with Ukraine are hosting Ukraine Recovery Conference in London (URC 2023). This conference is a continuation of the cycle of annual events, the last of which was held by Switzerland in partnership with Ukraine in Lugano.

The previous conference, which was first held following the start of the russian aggression against Ukraine, established the Lugano principles, which laid the foundation for the reconstruction of Ukraine and united the whole world.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news