Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Wednesday evening in Manhattan with Wall Street CEOs and business power players to discuss efforts to rebuild his war-torn country and its economy, a person familiar with the matter tells CNN.
The roundtable, convened by JPMorgan Chase, included former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, billionaire Mike Bloomberg, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and billionaire Barry Sternlicht, the source said.
The meeting comes just a day after Zelensky’s dramatic UN speech where he called for global unity in the face of Russian aggression.
Zelensky is scheduled to visit the White House on Thursday for a meeting with US President Joe Biden.
The focus of Wednesday’s gathering, held in midtown Manhattan, was to discuss ways to support and invest in the reconstruction of Ukraine, the source told CNN.
The meeting, first reported by Fox Business, was said to be productive and lasted longer than expected, though it’s not immediately clear if it resulted in any firm commitments from the business leaders.
In February, JPMorgan sent a delegation to Kyiv to brief Zelensky on options to stabilize Ukraine’s beleaguered economy and help the country access capital required to rebuild it. Ukrainian officials signed a memorandum of understanding with JPMorgan to help create a roadmap for reconstruction.
The meeting on Thursday evening was hosted by Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of JPMorgan Asset & Wealth Management, Workplace CEO Vince LaPadula and JPMorgan alternative investments boss Anton Pil.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon was not present at the meeting as he was traveling, the source said.
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