U.S. Ambassador: The Ukrainian Government has demonstrated real progress to make it possible for American agricultural companies to come to Ukraine

This progress includes clear and transparent regulatory systems, and a transparent, fair and equally applied system of VAT refunds, said he.

The Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt stressed that “today’s agreement is a vote of confidence in the Ukrainian Government”.

“This Yuzhny project is exactly the kind of headline investment that we were talking about when the Prime Minister was with Vice President Biden and Secretary of Commerce Pritzker in Washington, D.C. in July”, said the U.S. Ambassador.

 “This investment of up to $100 million by Cargill will increase Ukraine’s grain handling capacity, will increase the ability of Cargill to facilitate Ukraine’s exports toward markets, and will create hundreds of new jobs”, he emphasized.

However, Geoffrey Pyatt noted that this should only be the start: “Ukraine is already one of the world’s great agricultural producers, but it should be an agricultural superpower.  It has more than a quarter of the world’s black soil.  And Ukraine’s agricultural exports, which last year exceeded $14.5 billion, already accounted for 40 percent of your export revenue.  But those numbers can easily be doubled”.

“I am confident that continued reform and the demonstrated commitment of people like the ministers who are here today will ensure that today’s success story is repeated, and that this goal of developing Ukraine as an agricultural superpower is more within reach today than it ever has been before”, the U.S. Ambassador highlighted.