
VII session of Ukraine-U.S. Trade and Investment Council wound up in Kyiv
Today, October 3,
2017, there took place the VIIth session of the
Ukrainian-American Trade and Investment Council with the participation of First
Deputy Prime Minister/ Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv and Assistant
United States Trade Representative for Europe and the
Middle East Daniel Mullaney, as well as representatives of U.S. business
circles.
The participants focused on the issues of expanding exports and trade between Ukraine and the U.S.A., the improvement of investment and business climate in Ukraine, reforms in intellectual property sector, tax and customs reforms, deregulation and creation of best regulatory practices in Ukraine, as well as reforms in energy domain and enhancement o f cooperation in the agro-industrial complex.
"This year's
high-level Ukrainian-American meetings, the visit to Ukraine by the President
of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation of the United States, as well as investments of major
business, including from the U.S., - all these we consider a sign of trust of
the American authorities and American businesses and confidence in the success
of reforms, pursued by the Government", stressed Stepan
Kubiv opening the meeting of the Council.
Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade/ Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mikolska emphasized: "Ukraine has taken a number of steps to expand and diversify its exports, as well as to improve the opportunities for trade with Ukraine as a whole, and in particular industries and referring to certain commodity positions." She called an important direction in the work the continued elimination of barriers in trade between Ukraine and the United States, increased cooperation at a technical and expert levels.
Exports of goods
to the United States for the 7 months of 2017 amounted to US $ 471.2 million
and increased by 118.4% compared to 7 months of 2016.
"The United
States of America is a market defined by the Export Strategy of Ukraine as a
focal point for Ukrainian exports. Therefore, we are working to eliminate
barriers in the US market, to simplify trade procedures, to leverage investments
into export-oriented sectors in Ukraine, and also to increase the
business-to-business contacts aimed to enhance the quantity of export
contracts. Moreover, the priority is to set up a working group to identify
sectors for increasing trade and to carry out sectoral
trade missions for Ukrainian and American businesses in 2018," Natalia Mikolskaya noted during the meeting.
The participants separately
discussed the prospects of privatization in Ukraine as one of the directions to
attract investment, in particular in energy sector. Stepan
Kubiv noted that the success of American companies
that are already working in the Ukrainian market and expanding their presence
is extremely important.