Stepan Kubiv: The number one priority for the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade in 2017 was support of domestic producer
December 21, First Vice
Prime Minister/Minister of Economic
Development and Trade of Ukraine
Stepan Kubiv along with the
deputies, who reported on the
achievements of the Ministry in
2017 and announced the core objectives
for 2018, held the concluding press conference.
The First Vice
Prime Minister emphasized that due to the
joint work of the Government,
the National Bank and the
Parliament in 2017, the economy continues
to grow for
the second consecutive year - GDP growth in January-September 2017 amounted to 2.3%. Foreign direct investment in January-October
2017 amounted to over $ 2 billion. At the same
time, according to the Ministry
of Economic Development and Trade, forecast for 2018, GDP growth is planned at
3%.
The increase of
exports in January-September
2017 was to the tune of
18.5%. Among the highlights the Ministry of Economic
Development and Trade (MEDT) in the development of international trade, the First
Vice Prime Minister listed a number of important
incentives implemented, inter alia:
• the entry
into force of the Free
Trade Agreement with Canada, which
opened duty-free access for Ukrainian
exporters to 98% of the goods
markets;
• Ukraine's accession
to the Regional
Convention on
pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin;
• EU additional trade preferences for Ukrainian honey,
corn, grains, processed tomatoes, as well as
full liberalization of imports of
foot wear, copper and aluminum
products from Ukraine, and electronic
equipment for reproduction of images;
• re-launch of
economic relations with China and
Ukraine's inclusion in the International
Trade Initiative "One Belt - One
Road".
The elaboration of
the Export Strategy and the
Roadmap for the Development of International Trade for 2017-2020 was a milestone of the Ministry
of Economic Development and Trade in promoting
exports.
The Export Promotion
Office successfully organized
and implemented 8 trade missions, in which Ukrainian
companies held 1000 B2B meetings (business to business).
Moreover, Stepan Kubiv
emphasized the Ministry is committed
to continuing work on improving
the business climate in the
country. The increase of Ukraine's
position in the international ranking of "Doing Business 2018’’ is a powerful indicator
of the success
of the Ministry's
team. In 2017, more than 450 regulatory
acts were cancelled that created pressure on business.
At the same
time, at the initiative of the Ministry
of Economic Development, a comprehensive reform of the
system of state supervision (control) has been
kicked off.
The Ministry is
engaged in activities on public procurement
reform. In 2017, e-commerce system Prozorro.Sales made tenders open
to Ukrainian businesses, and the number of
participant in tenders increased by 228%.
The MEDT continues to work on
a number of initiatives on the protection of intellectual property rights, in particular the
introduction of a two-level system of
public administration in the field
of intellectual property, the transition
to the creation
of the National
Office of Intellectual Property.
The Minister and
his deputies briefed attendees on topmost priorities singled out for
the Ministry in 2018.