On stage

KP

Kasia Piquette

Moderator · Canadian Energy Ventures

IV

Ivan Vasyunyk

former Deputy PM of Ukraine

JK

Jeffrey Kramer

Nova Ukraine

CP

Catherine Porter

energy consultant

The closing panel argued that reconstruction should mean "building forward best," not merely restoring what existed. Ivan Vasyunyk drew on Ukraine's Euro 2012 preparations to stress professional capacity, cultural infrastructure and national identity as central to recovery, and named bringing displaced labour and families home as the hardest challenge. Catherine Porter covered energy-efficient modular housing and the tension between EU regulation and affordability, while Jeffrey Kramer reframed infrastructure as a means of "saving" and rebuilding community rather than just construction.

The substance

Key takeaways

1

Ivan Vasyunyk rejected the language of "building back better" in favour of "building back best," arguing reconstruction framed as mere repair would deny Ukraine its rightful post-war leadership role — and made the striking political claim that Ukraine's successful hosting of Euro 2012 was "probably the last obstacle Putin could bear," a jealousy-driven trigger on the road to 2014.

2

Vasyunyk repeatedly reframed infrastructure as a "war for identity," insisting economic success depends less on economics than on national unity, culture and language, and citing his own foundation's self-funded Holodomor museum — the first modern culture-museum building in 34 years — and the Guggenheim Bilbao effect as proof that cultural infrastructure can transform a nation's positioning.

3

Catherine Porter identified the central post-conflict tension as balancing Ukraine's internal needs against EU pressure to adopt costly energy rules (carbon border mechanisms, renewables pacing), while arguing that construction is the opposite case — Ukraine should embrace harmonization, using German-style modular building and high thermal-efficiency standards to rebuild destroyed housing far better than Britain's own poor stock.

4

Jeffrey Kramer pressed an "ethereal" but insistent theme — that infrastructure "is not about building; building's a tool," just as "fundraising is not about asking for money" — arguing the biggest barrier to entry is investors unable to "get out of their own way" and see beyond business to the hope and belief that keep a people refusing to be "scared into a corner."

5

On the hardest question — luring millions of emigrants home — the panel converged that housing and community come first: Kramer said simply "what I would build first is homes... bring people home to a home," while Porter cautioned from her own Polish-émigré family history that the longer displacement lasts the harder return becomes, since "culture and community can form anywhere," making a durable, credibly secure environment the real precondition for winning the peace.

In their words

Key quotes

“

it's not the government, it's not the authorities who win the war, but the people, the society.

Ivan Vasyunyk

“

infrastructure's not about building. It's about saving.

Jeffrey Kramer

“

You can form culture and community really anywhere, because it depends on people rather than place.

Catherine Porter

“

Ukraine has a very unique opportunity of building something which will be a template for the entire Europe.

Kasia Piquette

Full transcript

The complete transcript of this session is being prepared for publication after a review pass.

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