President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi has said that Ukraine and France have finally reached an agreement on supply of 130 locomotives worth a total of EUR 900 million manufactured by Alstom Transport SA (France) to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
"We finalized the agreements today and moved to the stage of practical implementation of an important project for supply of 130 Alstom locomotives worth EUR 900 million," Zelenskyi said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Kyiv.
The cooperation protocol, which outlines the key agreements between the companies, was signed by Oleksandr Kamyshin, the board chairman of the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia), and Henri Poupart-Lafarge, the CEO of Alstom.
"This is not just an agreement for supply of locomotives, it is also for integration of Ukraine into the economic system and transport network of the European Union," Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
The protocol offers unique delivery terms, particularly the provision of a 14-year financial loan equal to 85% of the value of the contract by the French Treasury and a consortium of banks. The advance payment for the supply of the locomotives is 15%.
Ukrzaliznytsia clarified that the signed protocol is not yet a contract with the French company for supply of locomotives.
In addition, Zelenskyi stated at the joint press conference that an agreement for supply of 370 pieces of firefighting and rescue equipment worth EUR 300 million to Ukraine by Desautel SAS (France).
As reported earlier, the Ukrainian parliament ratified several agreements signed by the governments of Ukraine and France at a plenary session on 1 July 2021, including an agreement on the supply of locomotives manufactured by Alstom to Ukrzaliznytsia.
