On March 1, Oleksandr Tkachenko, the Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, and his Deputies Galyna Grygorenko, Anastasia Bondar, Kateryna Chuyeva, Taras Shevchenko held an online meeting with Lee Satterfield, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), and her team.
A theme of the meeting is strengthening cooperation between Ukraine and the USA in the field of restoration of Ukrainian cultural heritage and cultural infrastructure, which was damaged or destroyed as a result of russian aggression. In particular, this is the improvement of the National System of Cultural Heritage Protection, which should become an effective tool for transformations in legislation and digitalization of the sphere. At the same time, damage assessment is the first and urgent step to be done to move on with further implementation of the project.
Oleksandr Tkachenko expressed sincere gratitude to US Department of State for allocation of USD 7 million to support Ukraine’s efforts to protect its cultural heritage.
“Lee Satterfield understands that this war is about culture and identity, so Ukrainians deserve to be helped in every way to preserve it. Our American colleagues are actively working on the creation of a Fund to help the cultural heritage of Ukraine, our artists and institutions. They already support the distribution of Ukrainian documentaries, provide scholarships to Ukrainian students, and also discuss how they will promote the Ukrainian issue on the G20 summit,” Oleksandr Tkachenko commented.
He also emphasized the importance of collaborations between Ukrainian teams and institutions with foreign partners, as well as the need for close coordination of processes and cooperation with the MCIP, and thanked his colleagues for their comprehensive support.
