The Latvian government committed on Wednesday (18 October) to help Ukraine restore and develop its telecom infrastructures, support it in meeting the EU telecom acquis, and help it to participate in EU and international programmes.

Latvia is looking to capitalise on this strong position by playing a leading role in reconstructing and upscaling Ukraine’s ICT networks.

“Twenty-five per cent of all internet networks have been destroyed [and] over 4,000 mobile base stations were damaged” since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, notes Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukrainian vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation.

Adding to the list the destruction of 60,000 kilometres of fibre-optic lines, Ukraine’s telecommunication infrastructure damages total more than €2 billion.

A Memorandum of Cooperation, jointly signed by Fedorov and Latvia’s Minister of Transportation, Kaspars Briškens, at the 5G Techritory event in Rīga, contains 10 points for a win-win Ukrainian-Latvian collaboration.