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.