In the Post’s continuing series of articles by ad insiders, Myron Wasylyk, of PBN Company, explains the importance of government relations.
Building good working relations with government officials, lawmakers and regulators is a must for any business and industry association. In Ukraine, however, few industry groups, multinational businesses and local companies allocate the financial resources necessary for sustained and effective government relations.
Often, business managers are led to believe that a single meeting with a high?ranking government minister is enough to establish good government relations. Nothing can be further from the truth. Unlike developed democracies where ministers are vested with strong executive branch authorities, government officials in Ukraine do not possess the powers to single?handedly decide policy issues.
Feel?good protocol meetings are often followed by new rules and regulations that take business managers by surprise. When this occurs, it is usually too late to begin developing effective lobbying campaigns. By the time government regulations are enacted, they have gone through several bureaucratic levels of re?writes, approvals and analysis. Good government relations advocates and lobbyists will propose protocol meetings to business managers as a culmination to months of educational, advocacy and lobbying work and not as relationship-building starting points.
It’s ironic that business managers are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on crisis lobbying, but are unwilling to hire established government relations consultants to liaison with lawmakers and officials on their behalf. Effective government relations consultants, advocates and lobbyists regularly monitor the legislative and government decision-making process, and know precisely when, where and how to influence decisions important to business and industry. An effective lobbyist knows how to work the system of checks and balances between the legislature and the executive branch and offers business managers a steady stream of detailed information and insight into points of vulnerability and influence.
The cabinet of Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko has opened up opportunities for developing transparent and meaningful government relations. The days of payoffs and other forms of corruption for special tax privileges and favors seem to be over. Today, civilized lobbying techniques that use comparative expertise and analysis not only from business and industry, but also from think tanks and policy centers help provide government officials and lawmakers with vital input into the public policy decision?making process. Indeed, by eliminating special privileges and leveling the playing field for all special interest groups, Yushchenko has taken the first step to opening the policy?making process to business, industry and the NGO communities.
The advantages of good government relations for business cannot be overestimated. Building relations with lawmakers and bureaucrats offer businesses the ability to forecast political events, anticipate new regulations, influence existing ones and adjust their business plans accordingly. Good intelligence gathering offers business managers insight into whether the time is right to grow and expand, or to hold off until better times.
Finally, developing partnerships with government officials, regulators and lawmakers provides businesses with allies who themselves will often become advocates for sound and balanced public policies that benefit all businesses and not just special interest groups.
The time has come for business to become more active in Ukraine’s public policy?making process. A system exists, albeit with some warts and growing pains. If the government is to realize its economic growth plans, businesses need to be part of the economic-policy-making process and cannot continue to sit by the sidelines as observers.
Myron Wasylyk is vice president and managing director of PBN Company in Ukraine.
