Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko announced that the signing of the agreement with the USA regarding mineral resources will not take place this week. However, he emphasized that Kyiv is making efforts to finalize this document “as soon as possible.” The minister made this statement on Thursday during a conversation with the Reuters agency.
This is reported by Finway
“There has been progress, and now our teams are working very closely together. There are still some issues that we are discussing”
According to Marchenko, officials are working “as quickly as possible to sign the agreement.” However, the minister did not specify a timeline for the completion of the agreement.
Discussion of the Agreement with American Partners
On April 23, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Serhiy Marchenko met with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessen. The discussion included, among other things, the issue of the economic partnership agreement. The US Treasury Department noted that Bessen emphasized the need to finalize technical negotiations as soon as possible.
US President Donald Trump, let us remind you, expressed hopes for signing the agreement on Thursday, April 24.
Changes to the Draft Agreement
According to Bloomberg, Ukraine intends to make changes to the draft agreement on mineral resources, including a commitment to increase investments from the USA. Earlier, the Financial Times and Bloomberg, familiar with the new draft, noted that the United States insists on concluding an agreement that would cover all natural resources, including oil and gas.
However, as reported by the FT, this agreement does not offer Ukraine any security guarantees. The previous version also did not contain such guarantees, which President Zelensky insisted on obtaining. Trump has been actively promoting the agreement since the beginning of his second term in January. Both sides planned to sign the agreement on natural resources in February, but due to a dispute during the meeting between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office, the agreement was postponed.