Denmark gets Europe's Ukraine export guarantee scheme underway

By Marc Jones

LONDON (Reuters) -Denmark has become the first country to formally join the European Union's new 300 million euro Ukraine export credit guarantee facility which supports European companies doing business with Ukrainian counterparts.

The deal with Danish export credit agency EIFO is the first of more than a dozen similar agreements expected in the next few weeks between EU lending arm the EIB Group, the European Commission and national agencies.

The overall facility is designed to back small and medium-sized firms which export to Ukraine, giving them protection if companies they deal with are impacted by the ongoing war with Russia.

According to the EU's Eurostat agency, exports from the EU to Ukraine jumped to nearly 43 billion euros ($49.11 billion) last year.

Up to 40 Danish companies are expected to benefit from the first agreement, while the likes of Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and some central and eastern European countries that export the most to Ukraine are expected to join soon.

The European Commission's Valdis Dombrovskis said the facility represented "a significant step forward in further integrating the EU and Ukrainian economies, which is a crucial element of Ukraine’s (EU) accession process."

Kyiv's EU membership talks began last year, although a long and tough road lies ahead before it can join the bloc given the war with Russia.

Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who was in Washington on Wednesday to formally sign the high-profile minerals deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, said the EU export support would help grow trade.

Marjut Falkstedt, head of the European Investment Fund which provides the guarantees for the new export facility, said Denmark's sign-up was part of significant efforts made to get the facility up and running within a year.

($1 = 0.8757 euros)

(Reporting by Marc Jones, editing by Ed Osmond)