Biden taps former Commerce Secretary Pritzker to help Ukraine with economic recovery

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he appointed Penny Pritzker, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, to serve as an envoy to help Ukraine with its economic recovery.

In her new capacity as U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine's Economic Recovery, Pritzker will be "working in lockstep with the Ukrainian government, our allies and partners, international financial institutions, and the private sector," driving U.S. "efforts to help rebuild the Ukrainian economy," Biden said.

The 64-year-old former commerce secretary during the Barack Obama administration will also coordinate "complementary and mutually reinforcing" efforts among the Group of Seven wealthy nations, and "help the Ukrainian government make reforms needed to strengthen its economy," Biden said.

Pritzker will work from the State Department and report to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. She plans to travel to Ukraine in the coming weeks to assess the state of the Ukrainian economy and hold talks with the country's political and business leaders, The New York Times reported.

The United States is "committed to ensuring that Ukraine not only survives, but thrives. And Secretary Pritzker will work to ensure that is the case," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said during the department's regular press briefing.

In the latest 1-billion-U.S.-dollar aid package for Ukraine that the United States announced last week when Blinken was on a trip to Kiev, 203 million dollars will be spent on supporting the "transparency and accountability" of Ukrainian government institutions, "bolstering key reform efforts related to anti-corruption, rule of law and the justice sector," according to the State Department.

The fund is also going to be utilized "to enable economic recovery in Ukraine, strengthening public financial management practices to meet international standards," the department said in a statement issued on Sept. 6.