The participants included, among others, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian and German ministries, representatives of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and Deutsche Bank as well as board members and CEOs of such companies as Siemens AG, Leoni AG, Metro AG, BASF SE, Horizon Capital and others.
The forum not only discussed both countries’ cooperation in industry, logistics and innovation. It also established a new level of Germany-Ukraine cooperation by creating a German-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce with headquarters in Kyiv.
As President of Association of German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Eric Schweitzer mentioned, under this roof, German side, using its knowledge, contacts and infrastructure, intends to help Ukraine to get its foot into Brussels.
The Federal Chancellor pointed that Germany was interested in a merger of both countries’ economic spaces. German companies are especially interested in entering the transportation and energy sectors of the Ukrainian economy. Many German speakers though complained that the conflict in Eastern Ukraine as well as a high level of corruption prevents Ukraine’s economic recovery and reduce the level of trust of foreign partners and potential investors into Ukrainian state institutions, enterprises and businesses.
In response, Ukrainian officials explained that, despite its unpredictable external situation, Ukraine moves steadily in European directions and is implementing Association Agreement’s provisions. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk pointed out the following six achievements showing that Ukraine is on its way to European standards:
“Energetic” oligarchs have been excluded from governmental decision-making;
Government has retaken under its control NaftoGaz;
Shadowy privatization schemes were eliminated;
The taxation system has been made fairer and more transparent;
Unnecessary bureaucratic agencies and institutions have been dissolved;
The income of Ukrainian officials has become more transparent to the public.
It emerged from the various presentations that Ukraine claims a niche in the European economic landscape that consists of IT and other knowledge-based technologies. Many officials from both the Ukrainian and German sides mentioned the large highly educated and relatively cheap labor force of Ukraine and the high number of information technology specialists, programmers and engineers. Deputy Head of Presidential Administration of Ukraine Dmytro Shymkiv reported that Ukraine is the third in the world (after the US and India) in terms of the number of people with advanced IT skills. The Ukrainian software export market has reached recently a turnover of $2.4 billion.
Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius, moreover, announced that the government intends to develop and use IT technologies for providing state services. “Computers do not stand still” – he said explaining the need to use online platforms for interaction between the government and broader public. In order to make public procurement transparent for civil society, for instance, a special online system “Prozora” will be launched soon.
Among other sectors attractive to investments forum speakers pointed to agriculture, pharma and healthcare, aerospace as well as energy efficiency. Minister Abromavicius disclosed that, if he were investing as a private person, he would put his money into assets related to the titanium and amber industries of Ukraine.
Will all these announcements, ideas and initiatives lead to a new stage in the so far underdeveloped German-Ukrainian trade and investment relations? The coming years will show.
Julia Horovetska conducts advanced post-graduate studies in the political economy of European integration at the Berlin School of Economics and Law.
