American business has every opportunity to take leading positions in restoring Ukraine’s economy and infrastructure right now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address to members of the National Association of US Manufacturers.
As the head of state noted, participation in the reconstruction of Ukraine after the hostilities will give an extraordinary moral advantage to all businesses. At the same time, according to him, businesses that help in one way or another the Russian tyranny, will not be able to avoid problems and reputational crisis.
“American business is well positioned to take the lead in both rebuilding the Ukrainian economy and infrastructure and in showing the world that it is human nature to serve precisely worthy ends, and that this gives and always will give the greatest result. Ukrainian life after this war will inevitably get a fresh start,” Zelensky said.
He stressed that Ukraine now needs to restore hundreds of industrial, infrastructure and social facilities, residential buildings.
“Entire cities, industries, productions. This is a colossal task. But realistic. Ukraine is interested in projects to create a full production cycle in titanium, lithium, aluminum production, ferrous metallurgy … We need to rebuild the economy and energy on new security principles. It is in Ukraine that we will combine green transformation with security transformation and set an example for the same transformation in other countries”, Zelensky said.
He also said that mechanical engineering, agro-processing, weapons production, including modern drones, IT, transportation and infrastructure, localization of business in Ukraine and convenient logistics to other markets from Ukraine, and human capital “are not just investment opportunities and growth, but a wide space for American victories.”
“I urge you to prepare for these victories now and come to Ukraine now so that when we return the world, your hard work will already be producing results,” the president concluded.
The National Association of Manufacturers is one of the largest associations of manufacturers in the American business world which represents large and small manufacturers from all branches of industry in all 50 states of the United States. The association now has about 14,000 members.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky notes the acuteness of the problem of humanitarian demining and announces simplifications for business in dozens of directions.
“The agricultural sector is a very acute issue of humanitarian demining of land. At the level of the Cabinet of Ministers an interdepartmental working group has been created to ensure the implementation of this activity – clearing soil of mines and unexploded ordnance,” he said in a video message on Wednesday.
“Held an economic meeting today on preparations for spring. A lot of issues that relate to Ukraine’s economic recovery, creating economic opportunities for our people, industries,” he said.
According to Zelensky, “Businesses will get simplifications in dozens of ways. This applies to various bureaucratic permits and licenses. Steps are also being prepared to create jobs. Every job is an aid to our resilience and a way for our people to come back to Ukraine.”
Port of Reni for the first time since the independence of Ukraine has attracted a new cargo flow – citrus fruits from Egypt, which in peacetime went through the larger ports of “Big Odessa”, the Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine (AMPU) reported on Facebook.
“Last week a refrigerated vessel “ZEINAB”, equipped with enhanced ventilation and refrigeration units for the transportation of perishable goods, arrived at the port of Reni,” AMPU said in a statement.
In particular, 519.9 tons of fruit were delivered from Egypt: 150.3 tons of oranges, 169.4 tons of pomegranates, 31.05 tons of lemons and 169 tons of tangerines.
AMPU specified that citrus fruits were traditionally transshipped by Chornomorsk and Odessa ports.
The leader among them was the port “Chernomorsk”, which transshipped 253 thousand tons of citrus in the last five years: in 2018 – 83.6 thousand tons, in 2019 – 74.1 thousand tons, in 2020 – 43 thousand tons, in 2021 – 35.5 thousand tons and in 2022 – 16.8 thousand tons.
Port “Odessa” during the same period transshipped 134.2 thousand tons of citrus: in 2018 – 45.4 thousand tons, in 2019 – 40.4 thousand tons, in 2020 – 26.5 thousand tons, in 2021 – 14.3 thousand tons and in 2022 – 7.6 thousand tons.
AMPU reminded that now the ports of Greater Odessa work only within the framework of the “grain initiative”, so the cargo owners are forced to seek other ways to deliver citrus to consumers.
Earlier analytical project “Club of Experts” analyzed in detail the trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and Egypt, see in detail in the video:
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In the next video YouTube-channel of the analytical center “Club of experts” the prospects of trade and economic relations between Ukraine and Egypt were considered.
As the founder of the Club of Experts Maxim Urakin emphasized, before the war Egypt was the most favorable trade partner for Ukraine, the trade surplus with which amounted to almost 2 billion U.S. dollars. Grain and metallurgical products were the main Ukrainian goods at the Egyptian market.
At the same time, in the first months of the war, the Russian blockade of maritime communications in the Black Sea limited Ukrainian exports to Africa and, above all, to Egypt. The grain agreement improved the situation, but only with regard to agricultural exports. In order not to lose the Egyptian market, the Ukrainian companies have to adapt to the current situation now in order not to make additional efforts after the war.
According to the President of the Ukrainian Exporters Club Eugenia Litvinova, the Ukrainian producers should pay attention to the Egyptian market of dairy products in the first place. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the separation of Egyptian groups of goods for wholesale and retail trade while creating favorable conditions for imports. Also, according to her, the demand in Egypt is for canned and dried fruits, confectionery, chocolate, oils, fats, mineral water, as well as crockery, various cutlery, baths, showers, sinks, building materials and other goods for the retail trade.
“I want to draw attention to the fact that all Ukrainian exporters who want to trade with Egypt, must be registered in the general administration to control exports and imports. After that it is possible to establish logistics through rail and road ways, taking into account the temporary inaccessibility of the port of Odessa”, – she explained.
Besides, Yevgeniya Litvinova noticed that since March of the last year, Egypt obliged Ukraine to use the letter of credit for many groups of goods that leads to rise in price of transactions from 0,2 to 0,5%. This factor, according to the expert, will also directly affect trade and its final results.
“If we talk about advice to our small and medium-sized businesses when entering the Egyptian market, first you need to understand what exports are, if you have not previously been involved in this process. Then you should analyze in which cases it is profitable to open a Ukrainian enterprise in Egypt to work, and in which cases you do not always need to do it and not always profitable. Finally, the third tip – go through the registration. At least look at how to pass authorization, registration through a single window in Egypt. I draw your attention to the fact that your brand should be registered at least in Ukraine before you start to pass this registration in Egypt, “- summed up Eugenia.
In turn, the head of the Egyptian diaspora in Ukraine, Dr. Atia Walid noticed that in recent years Egyptian-Ukrainian trade relations have been intensively developed and our country has been invited to participate in major infrastructure projects, which are now being implemented by the Egyptian authorities.
“Back in 2021 Egypt discussed with the Ukrainian government investment in the special economic zone of the Suez Canal. That is, the Egyptian economic policy is primarily aimed at encouraging investment in the country’s economy. Egypt, of course, is interested in cooperation with Ukrainian companies from the point of view of opening joint ventures on its territory, which can well be realized today, despite the war. I think it is quite realistic for Ukrainian companies to open branches there, if they are interested in the sales market. Egypt is ready to facilitate this,” stressed the representative of Egypt.
In his opinion, our suppliers should work more actively both with the Egyptian embassy in Kiev and the Ukrainian embassy in Cairo. This will facilitate the passage of bureaucratic procedures and reduce the likelihood of becoming victims of fraud.
“Ukrainian businessmen should check with the Egyptian embassy or the Chamber of Commerce the authenticity of the documents of those organizations with which they cooperate. And only after that, conclude a contract according to all international rules. You should not believe the promises and pretty eyes, and do not forget the basics of doing business in the field of export-import. I wish all businessmen in Egypt and in Ukraine only success,” said Dr. Atia Walid.
See more details in the video:
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Ukrainian business paid 80 billion UAH more in taxes in 2022 than in peaceful 2021, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said.
“Despite continued hostilities and enemy attacks, we will do everything possible to make 2023 the first step for a great recovery of the Ukrainian economy. In 2022, we did the impossible and financed absolutely all budget expenditures. In total, these expenditures amounted to about 2.7 trillion UAH,” Shmygal said at a government meeting on Friday.
According to him, Ukrainian citizens and businesses last year paid more than 900 billion UAH to the state budget, another 425 billion UAH were paid to the Pension Fund and social insurance funds.
“Due to the issue of military bonds, about 600 billion UAH were received. We are grateful to the citizens and businesses who bought these bonds and thus invested in a strong army and a stable state,” the prime minister added.
Shmygal thanked Ukrainian businesses, which paid 80 billion more in taxes in 2022 than in 2021.
“Your steadfastness, patriotism, adaptability and social responsibility allowed to keep the economy of Ukraine afloat. 2023 should be the year of our victory and the year of the beginning of the recovery of our economy. We work together for this,” he concluded.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has called on French business to invest in the Ukrainian food industry.
Speaking by video link at the “Solidarity with the Ukrainian People” conference in Paris on Tuesday, Zelensky recalled that this year “through joint efforts we managed to stop the unfolding of the global food crisis.”
“We have already exported more than 13 million tons of grain. Thanks to our Grain from Ukraine initiative, we will help the poorest countries,” he said.
“But we also send humanitarian cargo to export, mostly raw materials, and we can send processed products. Right now there is a need to build a whole industry that will be export-oriented and definitely have consumers, and definitely give profit,” Zelensky said.
It would be right, he said, “if French business has already assessed the prospects and came to Ukraine. The same is in the energy, machine building, defense industry, transport and other industries.
