On 29 October 2026, the international forum “Catalonia and the Reconstruction of Ukraine: Commitment, Cooperation and Business” was held in Barcelona, organised by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce together with the Government of Catalonia.
The event brought together representatives of Ukrainian and Spanish state institutions, European financial institutions and businesses to explore opportunities, instruments and ways of accessing the Ukrainian market, to facilitate contacts with key players, and to explore potential alliances and joint projects.
Dnipropetrovsk region has been cooperating with Catalonia for two years. In September 2024, the first meetings with representatives of the Government of Catalonia took place, and the Regional Council signed a memorandum in Barcelona with ACCIÓ – Agency for Business Growth. The dialogue continued at URC 2026 in Gdańsk. In early September, the regions moved to an official partnership by signing a Memorandum of Cooperation until 2030.
A two-year plan of joint projects in energy, rehabilitation and industry is currently being prepared. A separate area of work is preparing communities to work with EU funds.
At the forum, Mykola Lukashuk, Chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, presented the region’s potential, in particular 84 projects from Dnipropetrovsk Region worth over EUR 280 million that are listed on the national DREAM platform. He also presented private sector investment projects featured on the platform of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Investment Agency (DIA). One of them is a distributed generation project for the Mechnikov Hospital, where the most severely wounded are saved every day. An additional source of electricity and energy reserves should make the hospital’s operation more reliable during power outages.
About 4 million people in Ukraine have been left without housing, which creates demand for new construction. In this context, the region is offering 65 land plots for building housing for internally displaced persons.
The participants also discussed rehabilitation medicine, waste processing projects, and the construction of storage facilities for the agricultural complex. These areas are already included in the region’s development strategy. More details on the region’s projects and proposals are available via the link.
Catalan businesses already operating in Ukraine spoke at the forum: Glovo, the automatic door manufacturer Manusa, and Gaser. At a separate session, representatives of the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, the Spanish Office for the Reconstruction of Ukraine and ACCIÓ explained the mechanisms for obtaining project financing.
Our region has a lot to offer its partners. There are prospects for cooperation in industry and agriculture.
We thank the representatives of Catalonia for the constructive dialogue, their support for Ukraine, and their readiness to contribute to the recovery and development of Dnipropetrovsk region.
More details on the cooperation between the region and Spain are available via the link.
