Ukraine, US discuss how to make minerals fund operational by year-end

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Ukraine and the United States have discussed how to make a minerals fund operational by the end of the year and the fund's first meeting is expected in July, Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, said in Washington on Wednesday.

The agreement on developing Ukraine's mineral resources, heavily promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump, was signed by Svyrydenko in Washington in April after weeks of tough negotiations made the terms more favorable to Kyiv.

Ukraine's parliament then ratified the deal.

On Wednesday, Svyrydenko held meetings with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the Development Finance Corporation, which would be a partner of the minerals fund, "and we discussed very concrete steps how to make this fund operational during this year," she told reporters.

"So we plan to have the first board meeting of this fund in July and we will discuss what will be the seed capital to start operating this fund. And actually, too, we should adopt the investment strategy for this fund for the next few years."

The negotiations leading to the clinching of the minerals fund deal followed a heated exchange at the White House between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over how to work towards ending Ukraine's three-year-old war with Russia.

The agreement was critical to Zelenskiy mending ties with Trump. The two men met briefly at the Vatican in April during the funeral of Pope Francis to help put their relations back on track.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Costas Pitas; Editing by Ron Popeski and Sonali Paul)

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