President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Canadian business to invest in Ukraine during a meeting with business representatives from the Economic Club of Canada.
"Invest in Ukraine! Why? Because we are one of the most promising countries with a great growth potential," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The President noted that a new leadership of the Security Service, State Border Service, State Tax and Customs Service had been appointed in Ukraine.
"Their key task is to overcome smuggling and corruption, immediately stop pressure on "white" business. People associated with raider attacks and manipulations with state registers are being gradually dismissed," the Head of State emphasized.
According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, potential revenues of the state budget of Ukraine as a result of termination of smuggling, overcoming corruption and de-shadowing of the economy are preliminary estimated at almost $ 10 billion a year.
“We need fair courts. Now the Ukrainian court system is trusted by neither society nor investors. We will change it. Our team prepares a separate plan for this," the President noted.
Among the industries that may be interesting to investors, the President mentioned IT, "green" energy production and mining of mineral resources.
In particular, the Canadian company Brookfield has already invested tens of millions of dollars in the construction of an IT center in Lviv.
"We are very interested in implementing at least five such projects in major cities, where IT business and relevant universities are concentrated," the President said.
According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a special issue is the restoration of Donbas, therefore, investment projects in this region will be considered first of all.
The Head of State also suggested creating a special investment fund for the joint investment of Canadians of Ukrainian origin in the projects in Ukraine.
"As President of Ukraine, I can guarantee full support for the implementation of such a project and protection of investments. To do this, a separate team is being created," Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.
The President stressed that Ukraine would continue its cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank.
"I have no doubt in their support," he said.
