During a working meeting in Stockholm, specialists from the Ministry of Natural Resources agreed with representatives of several Swedish structures to launch a new international assistance project for Ukraine, the ministry reported.

We are talking about the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, SALAR International, the Swedish Waste Management and Recycling Association, the Swedish Chemicals Agency (KEMI) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

"During the meeting, the participants agreed to launch a new international technical assistance project for Ukraine - Institutional cooperation on EU-accession in the environment and waste sector (ENSU27). The project budget is about EUR 4 million," the ministry's website said on Tuesday.

It is noted that the project will be implemented until 2027.

It is planned that Swedish experts will help Ukraine prepare for participation in a bilateral meeting with the European Commission as part of the official screening and negotiation process on Section 27 Environment and Climate Change. "They will work together to analyze European acts and prepare justifications regarding the transition periods potentially necessary for Ukraine to implement them. They will also study the experience of other countries in these matters and develop plans for the implementation of European norms and standards," the statement says.

The project experts will also work with local governments and state authorities to implement the National Waste Management Plan in Ukraine. "In particular, the project envisages active work with four clusters in Ukraine to implement practical changes - in Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, Kharkiv and Poltava regions. The cooperation will cover 38 Ukrainian communities, which will exchange experience with 40 Swedish municipalities and 16 waste management operators," the Ministry of Natural Resources reports.

In addition, attention is planned to be paid to the implementation of European legislation for chemical safety, in particular the provisions of the Minamata and Stockholm Conventions, as well as the creation of a register of chemical substances and its integration with the European register. It is noted that currently in the EU, more than 24,500 chemical substances are registered within the REACH technical regulation, more than 240 of which are particularly dangerous. Ukraine has already begun to move towards European standards and implement a reform of its own chemical safety system.