The Kyiv Post attended the June 15 Atlantic Council conference, “The Ukrainian Economy: Challenges and Prospects,” at the InterContinental Kyiv Hotel.
Olena Bilan,
Dragon Capital chief economist
“Ukraine’s taxation system favors abuse of tax rules by big enterprises who register as many small enterprises.”
John Herbst,
ex-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
“Creating good institutions of the type you have in some Western countries is expensive. In effect, you (in Ukraine) have to create wealth before you can” pay decent salaries to public employees.
Timofiy Mylovanov,
honorary president, Kyiv School of Economics
“I don’t buy for a second that Ukraine can’t afford” to pay market salaries to public employees. “The amount of money laundered or diverted through the banking system is enormous.”
Morgan Williams,
president of U.S.-Ukraine Business Council
“If you demonopolize the railroad and privatize land that will go all over the world as a major, major benchmark to move (investment) money into Ukraine.”
Daniel Bilak,
director of Ukraine Investment Promotion Office
“Clearly Ukraine is a difficult brand…Our strategy has been to target a very few global brands to come in this year (to send the message) that Ukraine is ready for prime time.”
Aivaras Abromavicius,
ex-economy minister
“One area where not enough progress has been done is anti-corruption.”
Anders Aslund,
Atlantic Council fellow
“We really have had a reform wave that brought about far greater changes than we’ve ever seen before. Is it sustainable? Is it the real breakthrough? I don’t think we can answer the question yet.”
