First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko, following a visit to Argentina and Chile this week, noted the presence of joint interest in investments and reported on the prospect of concluding bilateral free trade agreements.
“We know that there is already interest of companies from pharmaceutical, agro-sectors, processing industry, which want to deepen cooperation with Ukraine. The free trade agreement with Argentina, which we are currently working on, can also contribute to this. Cooperation with Argentina is reaching a qualitatively new level,” Sviridenko was quoted as saying in the press release of the Ministry of Economy on Thursday.
As First Deputy Prime Minister pointed out in social network X following a meeting with Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo, the countries have a lot in common: from economic structures to approaches to the organization of management. According to her, the parties agreed to hold a meeting of the Joint Ukrainian-Argentine intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation in October this year. The last time it was held 18 years ago. In addition, the possibility of holding a Ukrainian-Argentine business forum is being considered, the Ministry said in a release.
“This country is the leader of the strategically important for us region of Latin America, so strengthening the presence of Ukraine on the agenda – a contribution both to the development of business ties and security projects” – summarized Sviridenko.
She recalled that Argentina has allocated 16 packages of humanitarian aid to Ukraine for $600 thousand, and at the moment up to half a million Ukrainians live in the country.
In addition, representatives of the Ministry of Economy met with the Argentine Chamber of Commerce and Services (CAC) and the Argentine-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CAUCI) and invited business and government representatives to participate in the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC-2024), which will be held June 11-12 in Berlin.
“(…) On the agenda – the First Global Peace Summit initiated by President Vladimir Zelensky, strengthening business ties, deepening cooperation in the defense sector, support for the Ukrainian energy system against the background of Russia’s systemic shelling of our energy capacities,” – accentuated First Deputy Prime Minister.
It is indicated that the Ukrainian side also invited the leaders of Argentina to join the Global Peace Summit and become a co-leader of the working group on one of the items of the Peace Formula.
After Argentina, the Ukrainian delegation, which also includes the Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshyn, Deputy Minister of Economy Oleksiy Sobolev, Ukrainian Trade Representative Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Defense Dmytro Klymenkov, and representative of the Commissioner for Equal Rights and Freedoms of Rights of National Minorities of Political and Religious Views Mikhail Spasov, went to Chile.
“The first visit of a high-ranking Ukrainian delegation to Chile in 19 years,” Sviridenko emphasized on social network X. She also invited Chilean business and government representatives to the URC-2024 in Berlin, promising them very concrete projects from partners.
“We have a lot in common with Chile, especially in mining and critical materials. We hope to deepen cooperation in this area. We also discussed the issue of logistics. The next step of our cooperation is to deepen the dialog at the level of chambers of commerce and industry of our countries,” First Deputy Prime Minister said.
At a meeting with Chilean Economy Minister Niko Grau, Sviridenko said that both sides are interested in sharing experience in attracting investments, pointing out that there is already an example of a Ukrainian company that has invested in Chile.
“The areas where we see the greatest potential for growth are mining, especially in terms of critical materials, agribusiness and digitalization. Also, Chile has a rich experience in developing public-private partnerships and is ready to share it,” the First Deputy Prime Minister pointed out.
At a meeting with Chilean Foreign Minister Alberto Claveren, Sviridenko invited Chilean leaders to join the first Global Peace Summit, in particular, to lead the fourth point of the peace formula concerning the return of Ukrainian children illegally deported by Russia. She thanked Chilean President Gabriel Borich, who expressed his willingness to join the Summit.
Ukraine and Egypt may decide to start negotiations on a free trade area (FTA) this fall, said Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka.
“We are negotiating with Egypt, but soon the conversation fades. We hope that this fall we will hold an intergovernmental commission, and I hope we will take a decision to start negotiations,” Kachka said during the Kyiv International Economic Forum in Kyiv on Friday.
He also indicated that Ukraine and Indonesia have begun studying potential FTA talks.
The free trade area (FTA) between Ukraine and Israel will take effect on January 1, 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“This is a new level of relations between the countries and the ‘green light’ to the growth of Ukraine’s exports, closer cooperation in the fields of high-tech, engineering, investment. Great news, Benjamin Netanyahu [Prime Minister of Israel],” he wrote on his Twitter on Tuesday.
First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv has proposed to Vice-Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Liu He to commence joint consultations about the possible creation of a free trade area (FTA). “I have offered Vice-Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Liu He to start joint Ukrainian-Chinese consultations on the prerequisites for creating a Ukraine-China free trade area,” he wrote on his Facebook page, following a meeting with Liu He during his working visit to Beijing (China) on Thursday.
According to a posting on the website of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry, after a long interruption in the work of the intergovernmental commission on cooperation between Ukraine and China, its activities were resumed, which favored increased trade and cooperation between enterprises of the two countries. “However, this volume of trade does not correspond to the existing potential. In the next five years, we can increase trade turnover to $20 billion a year,” the ministry said, citing Kubiv as saying.
As reported, trade turnover between Ukraine and China in January-August 2018, compared with the same period last year, grew by 21%, to $5.8 billion.
