The Ukraine-U.S. Reconstruction Investment Fund will provide opportunities not only for U.S. companies but also for other countries, representatives of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) said during a workshop at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on July 11. The fund agreement, known as “the minerals deal,” was signed on April 30 and aims to attract investment in Ukraine’s natural resources, like its critical raw materials, as well as infrastructure like ports and transport. While the fund is being developed by America’s DFC and Ukraine’s Support Public-Private Partnership Agency (PPP Agency), it can be beneficial for non-American companies and investors as well. “We are not trying to crowd out other capital,” said Jonathan Taylor, deputy associate general counsel for direct equity and investment funds at the DFC, during the workshop. “We are here to invest in Ukraine,” he said, adding that there will be co-investment opportunities for European nations and other countries. Under the agreement, Ukraine will transfer 50% of its profits from new licenses, new royalty payments, and new production sharing agreements to the fund over 10 years. New U.S. military aid will be included as part of Washington’s contribution. While the U.S. will have off-take rights, meaning new projects have an obligation to go to the fund, this doesn’t give the U.S. any special terms; it will still operate on commercial terms, said Taylor. “The mechanics of the fund have become clearer and look fair and reasonable,” Denys Alyoshyn, director of strategy at UkrLithiumMining, a Ukrainian lithium company, told the Kyiv Independent after the workshop. “The right of first refusal will be clearly articulated in all new licenses granted, both in terms of third party capital raise and offtakes, but it does not give any preferential treatment to the U.S. side.”The DFC will also mobilize private capital with more extensive use of political risk insurance, which should ease the concerns of hesitant foreign investors. According to panelist Giovani Salvetti, the head of Rothschild & Co. for the CIS Region, 70% of the issues investors have with investing in Ukraine can be solved by the fund. For now, the structure and mechanism of the fund are still being developed, and the first board meeting is planned to take place within a month. The fund is still collecting seed investment, with $25 million expected by September, and it should start operating by the end of the year with initial investments in pilot projects. Ukraine has presented at least eight projects for investment with the pilot project already underway, the Dobra lithium mine in central Ukraine. Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko confirmed that the U.S. government-backed company TechMet is likely to bid on the mine, having eyed up the deposit since 2023.

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