Ukraine and France plan to strengthen their economic partnership by involving French business in the reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine. Investors from France plan to increase private investment in key industries, while Ukraine, in turn, will promote cooperation between companies from both countries and expand support for small and medium-sized businesses. This was discussed during a meeting between Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and representatives of the French business confederation MEDEF International.

“Even though the war is not yet over, the Ukrainian economy has resumed growth. This year we expect GDP to grow by up to 5%, and next year – by another 5%. We are confident that the private sector will be the main driver of the country’s recovery. We are currently working with the European Union on a significant EUR 50 billion recovery plan for Ukraine, which will include provisions to support private businesses and provide EUR 8 billion in guarantees for investors.

This will primarily apply to priority sectors such as energy, transport and logistics, agriculture, critical materials, digital technologies, processing industry, green metallurgy and defence. We invite French companies to participate in Ukraine’s reconstruction. Now private investors have a unique chance to lay the groundwork for launching their business before the country wins the ongoing war,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The First Deputy Prime Minister noted that the Ukrainian Government had formulated a number of measures to facilitate the transition from exporting raw materials to processing them. A key element of this strategy is to provide financial and investment incentives to attract capital.

“We are ready to use and adapt the best practices of French companies and their experience in various industries. We are already seeing concrete interest from French businesses in such industries as construction, energy, logistics, pharmaceuticals and the financial sector. Today, all the conditions have been created for French businesses to enter the Ukrainian market, primarily due to the fact that the French national export credit agency, Bpifrance, has started to insure war risks.

Direct investments by French businesses are important for us to restore and deepen cooperation between Ukrainian and French companies, in particular through localisation. This means new production facilities, jobs and taxes here in Ukraine,” Yuliia Svyrydenko continued.

According to her, cooperation between private businesses of the two countries is already bearing fruit in some areas. This is especially true in the defence industry. France not only supplies arms to Ukraine, but is also interested in the fact that their technological products can be manufactured at Ukrainian enterprises.