During the working visit of the President of Ukraine to the United States of America, a number of important documents were signed, in particular, a Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Ukraine and the United States on business partnership.
The memorandum was signed by First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy of Ukraine Oleksiy Liubchenko and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. The document is intended to realize the mutual interest of the two countries in making closer commercial ties to strengthen the welfare, security and economic growth in Ukraine and the United States by encouraging the commercial participation of U.S. companies in the Ukrainian economy and Ukrainian companies in the economy of the United States.
The parties plan to develop and implement business projects, as well as participate in government procurement in Ukraine and the United States. Key attention will be paid to cooperation in the energy sector, including supporting Ukraine's goals for energy transition and decarbonization, infrastructure, digital economy development, defense, cybersecurity and healthcare.
Three agreements totaling $2.5 billion were inked by the state concern Ukroboronprom. The documents relate to cooperation with U.S. defense companies.
Director General of Ukroboronprom Yuriy Husev said that the Strategy for the Development of the Defense Industry of Ukraine, which was approved by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the bill on the specifics of reforming defense industry enterprises recently adopted at the final reading by the Verkhovna Rada create the conditions required for expanding military and technical cooperation with strategic partners, attracting investment, transferring technology and modernizing production.
"The negotiated arrangements and the signed agreements bring us to a new stage of cooperation between our countries in the defense military industry and confirm the interest of our U.S. partners in cooperation with the Ukrainian defense industry," he said.
Following the talks with the top managers of U.S. Lockheed Martin Corporation, an agreement was reached to cooperate in defense military industry. It concerns the development of joint projects and programs, the organization of research and development. The parties also agreed on interaction in the field of compliance, which is important for maintaining a high level of transparency in cooperation.
Also Ukroboronprom will cooperate with Harris Global Communications, Inc. (part of L3Harris Technologies), which is one of the world leaders in the field of defense solutions. The signed agreement provides for the implementation of joint projects, in particular investments, and cooperation in the manufacturing of products for air, land and sea systems.
In addition, an agreement with Global Ordnance, an international company that has been operating in the global arms and military equipment market for many years, was signed. The document concerns, in particular, the acquisition and promotion of Ukroboronprom products.
Negotiations with Harold L. Yoh, CEO of Day & Zimmermann Lone Star LLC, culminated in the signing of an agreement on the development of modernization projects and the creation of new production facilities with the attraction of foreign capital for the enterprises of Ukroboronprom.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on financing irrigation projects.
"This is a key deal to attract international financial institutions to the structuring of the national operator NJSC Voda Ukrainy and to finance the modernization and development of the irrigation infrastructure of Ukraine," Minister of Agrarian Policy Roman Leshchenko said.
This agreement will allow attracting international investments for the rehabilitation of public main canals, pumping stations and internal systems, in particular by organizations of water users. In addition, the agreement creates conditions for attracting large-scale financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) as medium-term and long-term guarantees, direct loans from EXIM.
Also, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy signed a Memorandum of Understanding with U.S. Lindsay intending to manufacture irrigation equipment in our country.
This company is a world-class leader and it has expressed its readiness to invest in the creation of the production facilities manufacturing of a full range of irrigation equipment with a large local content in Ukraine.
In addition, Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Lyashko in the United States reached important cooperation arrangements with world market leaders, in particular, General Electric, Medtronic and MSD, beneficial for the Ukrainian health care system.
Thus, it was agreed with Medtronic on expansion of bilateral cooperation in the fight against cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus; the possibility of localizing the production of some of the company's medical devices in Ukraine within the framework of state support for projects ("investment nannies"); attraction of Ukrainian scientists and investments in research that can be undertaken by Ukrainian scientific institutions.
An agreement was reached with General Electric on the technical provision of hospitals with the latest equipment as part of the modernization of medical institutions under the Big Construction National Program (both the constructed reception departments and the hospitals that are being designed). There are also agreements on early diagnosis of breast cancer with one-day testing, with subsequent expansion to screening programs; boosting a potential of manufacturing radiopharmaceuticals in Ukraine; participation in joint scientific studies.
Also, the Ministry of Health and MSD are discussing the possible supply of Molnupiravir, an antiviral candidate for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, which is now passing phase 3 of clinical trials. It was also about increasing the supply of innovative medicines and immunobiological preparations to the Ukrainian market, in particular the transfer of vaccine production technologies.
