Ukraine and Malta pledge readiness to develop common logistics capabilities, in particular, the creation of a special hub for Ukrainian agricultural exporting companies with the further possibility of African market entry and the strengthening of production and investment cooperation. Appropriate arrangements were made during the meeting of Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman with President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca. The President of Malta has arrived with an official visit to Ukraine.

The Prime Minister placed a special emphasis to the fact that Ukraine and Malta have recently intensified cooperation. Landmark political decisions for Ukraine, inter alia the completion of ratification of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement and introduction of a visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens, were achieved during Maltese Presidency of the European Union.

He emphasized the paramount need to strengthen the economic component in cooperation between the two states.

The largest promising areas of cooperation are construction, energy, energy efficiency, tourism, information technologies, and agriculture in terms of food supplies. Significant potential is the development of transit capabilities of both countries.It was agreed that governments of both countries will work out the possibility of establishing direct flights that will contribute to the creation of necessary preconditions for activation of bilateral business cooperation.

 «We praise the readiness of our chambers of commerce and industry to establish a bilateral permanent Cooperation Council in the field of modern technologies and services», noted the Prime Minister.

He assured that Ukraine is on the path of reform, and certain successes have already been achieved. Ukraine is putting into practice educational and pension reforms, medical reform is on the agenda

In turn, the President of Malta assured that her country was and will be a friend of Ukraine. Moreover, the idea of establishing a Cooperation Council will enable two countries to enhance domestic economic development  and to deepen investment cooperation.

Background

The economy of Malta experiences growth upturn – starting from 2012 the economy grows by 5-6% per year. Construction, energy, information technology have the highest growth rates. The Governmental Economic Development Program of Malta for 2014-2020 singled out the following sectors of the national economy: aviation, education, film industry, financial services, medical services, pharmaceuticals, health system development and research in these sectors, innovation and information technology, industrial research and development, logistics, high-tech manufacturing, port infrastructure services, hotel and tourist services as promising areas.

Malta's GDP stands at $17.23 billion. The main export items are products of instrument making industry and vehicles (25.4%), mineral fuels and lubricating materials (25.4%), chemicals (25.2%), other industrial products (11.2%), food products (7%).

The largest export partners are the United States (59%), Germany (31%), France (18%), Italy (16.6%), Japan (11.5%), Hong Kong (9.4%), the Great Britain (8.5%).

The largest import partners are Italy (33.9%), the Caribbean and Bahamas islands (21.16%), Canada (16%), Germany (10.1%), the United Kingdom (9.45%), the United States (8 %), France (7%), the Netherlands (6.3%).