Mustafa Nayyem: The discussion about reconstruction being separate and war being separate is extremely dangerous

Representatives of the Ukraine Reconstruction Fund also took part in the Forum.

The idea that unites everyone is that reconstruction must continue because it is part of our resilience today.

Below are the main points of Mustafa Nayem’s speech at the panel discussion:

We are only doing our best to ensure that the country continues to work, live, breathe, and that the people affected receive basic things: housing, transportation, logistics, and medicine.

The most important area is the frontline: frontline roads and frontline logistics. We build only those facilities that are critically important.

Many people involved in construction are working under fire. In addition, you need to understand that any builder can be mobilized at any time.

It is impossible to wage a war if there is no cargo delivery. It will be impossible to deliver weapons from the western border to the front if we don’t have the M-06 road. It’s unrealistic. It is impossible to transport a wounded person from Barvinkove to a stabilization center or to the Dnipro, for example, if there is no road, even a simple one made of gravel. This is also a recovery. And it requires resources.

Therefore, the discussion that reconstruction is separate and war is separate is extremely dangerous.

We must build strong state institutions, including in the field of reconstruction. We need to attract qualified employees, pay decent wages, and increase expertise.

If we want to approach reconstruction professionally and systematically, we need to attract quality people. Or at least retain those who are working now. To do this, it is necessary to revise the Agency’s remuneration policy. For more than 90 employees (chief specialists), salaries have decreased by 52% to 68% since the beginning of the year. Almost 13% of the staff resigned. This should not be the case.

Next, the expertise we don’t have. When we talk about “Build Back Better”, we must understand that someone has to do this “Build Back Better”. And until we can attract professional expertise from abroad or from within to state institutions, this is impossible. Then we are talking about theory, not real things.