President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with representatives of the Council for Support of Entrepreneurship under Martial Law.
The event was attended by the Council members and government officials, including Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko, Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development of Ukraine – Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Rostyslav Shurma, and Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office Dariia Zarivna.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that he had established the Council to merge the efforts of the state and business towards preserving and developing Ukraine's entrepreneurial potential in the face of Russia's full-scale war against our country.
"War issues take up almost all of my time. I stand for state institutions helping entrepreneurs. You are now ready to act, you have the energy to focus on these issues. Because this is your life and you know what laws need to be changed, what amendments need to be made, what reforms need to be brought to the parliament. These are universal issues," the President said, addressing business representatives.
For his part, the Head of the President's Office spoke about the work done together with the Council members. In particular, he noted that pursuant to the President's instruction, the Council had conducted a series of meetings and come up with a list of the most pressing issues to be resolved.
"At these meetings with representatives of the parliament, government, and law enforcement agencies, we addressed the issues raised by the business and systematized them. Today we are ready to report which issues have already been resolved and which are still being worked out," said Andriy Yermak.
Yuliia Svyrydenko noted that nine key areas for improving the business climate in Ukraine have been identified. The implementation of all the planned measures is expected to contribute to Ukraine's economic growth and increase the number of jobs, which is a priority for the state and business.
The participants of the meeting discussed the issues of reducing law enforcement pressure on legal business, updating the principles of the Economic Security Bureau, as well as the need to support defense industry enterprises and changes to legislation.
Particular attention was paid to the introduction of digital solutions to modernize the interaction between the state and business, namely, the creation of a platform for receiving feedback from business and an analytical module for the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations, which will allow to see the full picture of criminal proceedings in the country in real time.
The digital platform is expected to facilitate feedback between the government and businesses – regional, small, and medium-sized – and to provide insight and an opportunity to systematize the issues that are of primary concern to entrepreneurs and identify ways to improve the business environment.
For each of the issues discussed, the parties outlined an action plan and ways for business to participate in developing systemic, concrete solutions with the involvement of the Council for Support of Entrepreneurship under Martial Law, a wide range of businessmen, and the Made in Ukraine platform.
The entrepreneurs thanked the President and other government officials for the constructive dialog.
In particular, Oleh Horokhovskyi, co-founder of FINTECH BAND LLC and the Monobank project, member of the Council, noted that representatives of the government, parliament, and many specialized experts were involved in the consultations, which gives entrepreneurs hope for a positive outcome.
"The Head of the Presidential Office has done a great job in preparing this meeting. Many stakeholders were involved in consultations with us, and we saw constructive thinking and a sincere desire to improve the efficiency of interaction between the state and business. We are very inspired by this track and want to assure you that we will actively support and communicate all the positive decisions that we will come up with and that will be adopted by your team to support business in Ukraine," the businessman said.
He noted that it is impossible to win this war without the bravery of our warriors, without a robust defense industry, without the help of our allies, and without powerful Ukrainian entrepreneurs.
"We consider this work a great trust and a great responsibility. And our duty and sincere desire is to help the country. Together we want to create a country where businessmen are respected. Especially those who pay taxes and do not break the law. They should feel respect, appreciation and support," added Oleh Horokhovskyi.