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🌐On December 7, 2023, the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine joined the meeting of the General Assembly of the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), which took place in Paris. 

👤Philip Crampton, President of FIEC, started the meeting with words of gratitude to everyone who joined and especially highlighted the participation of Ukraine and Israel: "We especially appreciate the fact that representatives from those countries in which there is a war have joined us today. Thank you and remember, we are with you!".

According to the agenda, the 2023 FIEC budget report was reviewed and the budget for the following year 2024 was agreed, which was noted to have been discussed earlier in the steering committee.

⚖️In addition, for the first time during the meeting, the question of accepting new members of FIEC, namely the international law company from Great Britain - Trowers & Hamlins LLP, was raised.

💬"Usually, the composition of the FIEC is filled solely by those companies and organizations that are directly involved in construction. And today, for the first time, we offer a law company for consideration, there was no such practice before. I would like to note that the meetings were held with the management of Trowers & Hamlins LLP in order to clearify and better understand the purpose of the entry", explained the President of FIEC.

Thus, within the framework of the meeting, the participants of the FIEC supported such a proposal with the help of a special electronic vote, thus a decision was made to accept Trowers & Hamlins LLP as a member of the Federation.

👤In the block of partners, Philippe Dessoy, President of Confederation of International Contractors'​ Associations (CICA), spoke about the participation in a number of events with the participation of, in particular, representatives of the World Bank, MIGA, PPIAF, IFC, the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB Invest, etc. He also announced the creation of a working group between CICA, EIC and the World Bank Procurement Group to discuss the implementation of rating criteria in World Bank-financed projects.

At the same time, he announced the development of a special construction Manifesto for the EU elections, which will be held in June 2024.

🧾So, the Manifesto consists of 10 key “messages” that are designed to present a vision of the future construction in Europe. In particular, they represent a necessary basis for the implementation of sustainable development and industrial innovation, for the competitiveness of the economies of European countries, for the promotion of investment in technology and employees, while continuing to improve health and safety conditions.

👤Domenico Campogrande, Director General of FIEC demonstrated the website of the Manifesto (https://fiec-manifesto.eu/), where all the information about the key messages is collected, and it is also possible to download the electronic document for viewing or printing.

Philip Crampton emphasized that among all FIEC Committees and initiatives there is a working (target) group FIEC-EIC Task Force “Ukraine”. It’s Chairman is Kjetil Tonning, Honorary President of the FIEC, regional director for heavy construction in the construction company Veidekke of Norway.

👤 Oleksandr Chervak, Executive Director of the CBU during the General Assembly expressed his gratitude to the FIEC for such an initiative and the opportunity to discuss extremely important issues related to the reconstruction of Ukraine: "We believe that the CBU together with the FIEC will continue to develop this direction. We hope that in the near future all willing participants of the Federation from any country will be able to visit Ukraine. Not selectively, but all. The Ukrainian construction business is open to new technologies, in particular, 3D printers, BIM technologies, processing of construction waste, etc. are already being used."

Kjetil Tonning noted that Ukraine is a digitized country. Separately, he also said that even driving around Kyiv, you can see the consequences of armed aggression, some buildings are mutilated from shelling. But the important point is that Ukraine is already recovering, despite the armed attacks. 

💬"Colleagues from the СBU are already my friends, we have been working closely for 1.5 years. Thanks to the CBU, we realized that reconstruction measures are very important. So, for example, I had a meeting with the State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine, its Chairman Mustafa-Masi Nayem is very open and ready for communication. Today there is a risk that the rebuilt objects may be destroyed again, but this does not stop Ukraine and reconstruction is launched wherever possible. During a personal meeting in Kyiv, I wondered: is there an understanding of where to start recovery? And the answer was - We don't have time, we are already rebuilding," said Kjetil Tonning.

👤Afonso Brito, Policy Officer for the FIEC Economic and Legal affairs, characterized the situation on the housing construction market and construction in general in EU countries. Thus, according to the data, high interest and a rapid increase of the cost of construction contributed to a sharp decrease in demand for new construction of residential buildings in Europe. In addition, civil construction is the most "sustainable" segment.

As for forecasts, in 2024 the volume of construction may decrease. At the same time, it is reconstruction that has the potential to become a driver of the growth of the construction sector in the long term.

✅Representatives from Sweden, Germany, Italy, Cyprus, etc., who were present in Paris and were able to paint an even better picture of the current construction situation in their countries, actively participated in the comments on this issue.

The EIC representative also commented on the Construction Manifesto in the partners' speech block. He emphasized that, first of all, in this way it is necessary to prove that the construction industry is not a risky sphere. Thus, the document envisages full circulation of all processes - from subcontractors to contractors.

💬At the end of the meeting, Philip Crampton summed up with a prayer for peace: "Lead us from death to life, from lies to truth. Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our life, the world and the universe."

WE WILL WIN AND REBUILD EVERYTHING!💪

TOGETHER TO VICTORY!

GLORY TO UKRAINE!💙💛