President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the participants of the international conference "Ukraine: Investment Harbor in the Time of Change", which is being held in Kyiv on December 11 and is dedicated to the progress of reforms and improving business conditions in Ukraine.
The event was organized by the UkraineInvest Government Office for Investment Attraction and Support with the support of the USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine Program. It gathered about a thousand participants - representatives of the business community from more than 60 countries.
“Ukraine is a dynamic European country that is improving its investment climate to compete globally, create new business opportunities and increase Foreign Direct Investment,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his video address to the participants of the conference.
According to the President, despite the challenges, during 2020 Ukraine with the help of the business community carried out historic reforms: adopted legislation on the land market, increased the transparency of the tax system, supported business with affordable loans, launched open privatization, signed the first concession agreements. Diia, a digital platform for business and citizens, was also launched, placing Ukraine among leading countries with digital passports and online services.
The Head of State noted the progressive role of the IT industry.
“More than 100 global players have their innovative facilities in Ukraine. We have partnered with Microsoft that will invest over $500 million in cloud services development in Ukraine,” the President noted.
He thanked the UkraineInvest team for organizing the conference and stressed: "Ukraine is open to the world as an investment harbor in the time of change”.
The key topics of the conference were: strengthening the protection of investors' rights, stimulating investment in SMEs, prospects for relocation of production facilities to Ukraine, strengthening communication between regions and the world, as well as successful cases of investors in our country.
In his video address, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal noted that in order to stimulate economic growth, the Ukrainian government continues to cooperate with international financial organizations, including the IMF, the World Bank and other partners.
"Currently, we are actively discussing with the EU the issue of the industrial visa-free regime, the Common Aviation Area agreement and Ukraine's accession to the European energy network ENTSO-E," he said.
The second priority of the government is to improve the business climate in Ukraine according to the best world standards. In particular, the goal is to get into the top 30 of Doing Business rankings in the near future.
"In our opinion, ensuring clear and transparent rules of the game in the market is a critical step for investors to feel confident and secure in Ukraine," the Prime Minister said.
He noted that in 2021-2022 it is planned to conclude concession agreements on seaports, highways, airports, railways and other infrastructure facilities. The expected adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of a law on state support of investment projects with significant investments will also contribute to the improvement of the investment climate in Ukraine.
The participants of the event also discussed the Strategy for Attracting Investments in the Economy of Ukraine.
"In order to compete for investment at the global level, Ukraine needs to apply innovative approaches to promote investment potential. That is why UkraineInvest has gathered a business community from many countries around the world to inform of Ukraine's steps to improve the business climate," UkraineInvest Executive Director Serhiy Tsivkach said.