Discorso - Conclusion of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2022)

Lugano, 05.07.2022 - Address by Ignazio Cassis, President of the Swiss Confederation and head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA - Check against delivery.

Prime ministers
Ministers
Excellencies
Ladies and gentlemen

Back in mid-March, President Zelenskyy joined a rally on Bern's main square by video link, at a time when Russian troops were not far from Kyiv. At that time, he publicly affirmed his continued commitment to the Lugano Conference. And we planned the Ukraine Recovery Conference along the lines of the Ukraine Reform Conference.
That was an audacious thing to do!

And today? Today, thanks to your contributions and your determination, we have produced a final document to close the conference.

Here in Lugano, we have launched the process of Ukraine's recovery at international level and set out the principles underpinning the recovery. I see lasting value in this. What we have achieved is consolidated in the Lugano Declaration.
The core of the Declaration are the seven Lugano Principles.
-   They mark the beginning of a long recovery process in Ukraine.
-   They define criteria and methods for recovery.
-   They affirm that Ukraine will be steering the process.
-   They link recovery to reforms.
-   They express a broad-based commitment by international partners to support Ukraine on the path to sustainable recovery in the long term.

Excellencies
Ladies and gentlemen

Allow me to present the “Lugano Principles”:
1.   Partnership: Ukraine will steer the recovery process and implement it together with international partners. Progress and financial flows will be monitored regularly.
2.   Focus on reform: Recovery, resilience and the continuation, deepening and broadening of reforms are interdependent.
3.   Transparency: The process, including ensuring an independent judiciary and fighting corruption, must include accountability.
4.   Participation: The recovery process will not be centralised. It is to be grounded in democratic participation, as well as in local communities and local solutions.
5.   Multi-stakeholder engagement: The process should promote the participation of national and international actors from business, civil society, academia and local communities.
6.   Equality: Minorities must not be excluded. The process must include everyone.
7.   Sustainability: The recovery and reforms will not be limited to infrastructure and institutions. They will also encompass social, economic and environmental aspects, following the principle of building back better.

Excellencies
Ladies and gentlemen

This is the “Lugano Declaration”!

What we have achieved over the last two days lays the groundwork that will, in the long term, allow for more than just the reconstruction of a battered country's infrastructure and the restoration of its people's livelihoods.

Our work prepares for the time after the war, even as the war is still raging. This should give the people in Ukraine hope and the certainty that they are not alone. Because Ukraine's sustainable recovery requires revival, resilience, and renewed institutions fit for the future.

This is the path we must pursue. That is why the reconstruction platform, presented here by the European Union and the follow-up conference, to be hosted by the UK, are important next steps.

Excellencies
Ladies and gentlemen

At URC2022, we looked to the future. History does not simply write itself. History is made by actions, decisions and the common will to overcome dark times.
I am convinced that through this conference, we, and YOU, have taken a key first step on the long road of Ukraine's recovery. Because all journeys, even rocky ones, begin with the first step.
Let me conclude by extending my sincerest thanks to our Ukrainian partners with whom we planned and organised this conference.
Many thanks – grazie mille!