The Ukraine Recovery Conference, originally launched as the Ukraine Reform Conference, is a premier annual high-level international event dedicated to the rapid recovery and long-term reconstruction of Ukraine. The Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) represents the most vital global platform for coordinating international support for Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts.

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The very first edition took place on July 6, 2017, in London, initiated by the then-Prime Minister of Ukraine, Volodymyr Groysman, with active support from the then UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Initially, the platform was designed to support Ukraine’s transition from a post-Soviet system to European standards following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. In its early phase, it operated as the Ukraine Reform Conference, with subsequent editions held in Copenhagen, Toronto, and Vilnius. However, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the planned event in Lugano, Switzerland, became a turning point: the conference was officially renamed the Ukraine Recovery Conference to reflect its new mission focused on rebuilding Ukraine. Since then, it has been hosted in major European capitals including London, Berlin, and Rome, evolving into the most important coordination mechanism for global support for Ukraine.

The event brings together a massive international coalition comprising all G7 countries, European Union member states, NATO allies, and partner countries from across the globe. It traditionally gathers the highest levels of global leadership, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the heads of allied governments such as the Chancellor of Germany and the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Poland, and Italy. These leaders are joined by national parliamentarians, ministers of foreign affairs, economy, and infrastructure, as well as special envoys responsible for Ukraine’s economic recovery. This structure ensures strong political, financial, and institutional alignment across all participating actors.
 

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The upcoming fifth Ukraine Recovery Conference - and the ninth overall since the platform’s creation - will take place on 25-26 June 2026 in Gdańsk, Poland. The event will be hosted at the AMBEREXPO exhibition centre and the Polsat Plus Arena stadium, making full use of the city’s modern transport network and high-security infrastructure. Poland’s selection as host reflects both practical and symbolic considerations. The country has been the main logistics and transit hub for humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the war. At the same time, Gdańsk carries profound historical symbolism as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement, which played a key role in Poland’s peaceful democratic and economic transformation. Poland intends to use this symbolic context to share its extensive experience in European Union integration and EU fund absorption, helping Ukrainian municipalities adapt more effectively to European standards and governance models.

The Gdańsk edition is expected to welcome around 2,000 participants, creating a unique environment where high-level diplomacy is combined with strong local engagement. The event will bring together a broad international coalition of G7, EU, and NATO member states, alongside global partner countries. National leaders and parliamentarians will interact directly with regional mayors, civil society organisations, and think-tank experts, fostering direct municipality-to-municipality cooperation and strengthening local development networks.

A major feature of the conference will be its strong business and investment dimension. The programme will include a large Business Fair with approximately 250 exhibition stands, as well as a dedicated business-to-business zone equipped with 40 negotiation lounges for direct meetings between Polish, Ukrainian, and international companies. The conference aims to transform recovery concepts into fully bankable investment projects and attract significant private capital into Ukraine’s reconstruction process. To support this, it will promote blended finance programmes and the expansion of war-risk insurance instruments. These mechanisms are designed to mobilise global investment from sectors such as construction, energy, logistics, and defence, particularly for rebuilding Ukraine’s decentralised energy systems and developing a new green industrial base.

For the first time at Poland’s initiative, the 2026 Ukraine Recovery Conference will also introduce a dedicated Security and Defence dimension alongside its traditional focus areas of Business, Human Capital, Local Development, and EU Integration. This new track will address critical challenges, including strengthening air defence systems to protect energy infrastructure, advancing humanitarian demining efforts, developing dual-use technologies such as artificial intelligence and drones, and establishing joint Polish-Ukrainian defence enterprises. This addition reflects the growing interconnection between security and economic recovery in Ukraine’s reconstruction process.

Funding for Ukraine’s reconstruction is structured across three main tiers. International financial institutions such as the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provide long-term loans, grants, and macroeconomic stability support. At the same time, allied governments and mechanisms such as the European Union’s Ukraine Facility supply funding for critical public infrastructure and offer sovereign guarantees to reduce investment risks. However, the primary strategic focus of the Gdańsk conference is the mobilisation of private capital. The summit is designed to connect global investors with viable reconstruction projects and transform them into structured, investable financial instruments.

Through this multi-level approach, the Ukraine Recovery Conference has evolved from a reform-oriented initiative into the central global platform for coordinating Ukraine’s reconstruction. The 2026 edition in Gdańsk represents a major milestone, uniting political leadership, international institutions, municipalities, and private investors in a single framework. By bringing together governments, businesses, financial institutions, and local communities, the conference aims not only to support Ukraine’s reconstruction, but also to lay the foundation for its long-term integration into European economic and security structures.

Read more: https://www.urc-international.com/