A Government working group involving leading economists and business representatives is developing a National Economic Strategy that will identify the vectors of economic development with clear KPIs by 2030.

This was the topic of the first broad discussion of NEC-2030, which took place on January 22 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and with the participation of representatives of the Government, the Verkhovna Rada and the Office of the President. The event was dedicated to the topic "Investment attractiveness, capital markets and macroeconomic stability".

"For the first time in the history of Ukraine, such a long-term document is being drafted, and it should demonstrate to the society and experts what direction our country will follow in the coming years. The audit of the state showed what it means when the country does not know what path to follow when there are elements of misunderstanding of the strategy. This is billions of dollars of inefficient use of economic instruments in our country," Denys Shmyhal stressed.

At that, the Prime Minister accentuated that the Government’s team and the team of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have the political will to implement reforms that correspond to the vector of Ukraine's advancement towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

According to the Head of the Economic Recovery Center, Adviser to the Prime Minister Kyrylo Kryvolap, the process of developing the National Economic Strategy is unprecedentedly open and transparent. It involves more than 400 specialists from various fields - representatives of analytical organizations, think-tanks, non-governmental organizations, the business community and government agencies.

"In the process of the development of the Strategy, more than 500 interviews were conducted, more than 50 think-tank were involved. This document represents a broad consensus in terms of what the country must achieve in economic terms," stressed Kyrylo Kryvolap, Head of the Economic Recovery Center.

In turn, the Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Ihor Petrashko noted that as a result of the pandemic, the level of foreign direct investment in Ukraine has decreased significantly. That fact proves the need to develop and implement long-term documents that provide specific incentives to raise investors’ interest, for innovation, the financial sector and macroeconomic stability.

"What jeopardizes the situation most is a critical decrease in the share of the investment component of GDP, which fell to 12.6% in 9 months of 2020. Without proper processes of economic modernization and financing of innovations, it is impossible to achieve sustainable long-term growth. And these figures are the evidence that such a Strategy-2030 is absolutely necessary," Ihor Petrashko stressed.

During the meeting, Olena Diachenko, Director General of the Directorate for Economic Policy at the President's Office, noted that it is critical for Ukraine to further expand opportunities to attract foreign capital.

"There is a saying that if you don't have your own strategy, you will follow someone else's. Therefore, given we have our own strategy, which ensures stability and contains clear steps, we will facilitate the development of our country," said Olena Diachenko.

During the event, the participants discussed such initiatives of the National Economic Strategy 2030 as the launch of a mechanism of tax benefits for foreign investors, the introduction of special tax regimes, amnesty of capital and cumulative pension system, opening of industrial parks, the Funding fund and more.

It should be noted that based on the broad discussion of NES-2030 it is planned to develop a draft decision of the Government on economic policy formation until 2030, to approve the Priorities for the Government Action Program for 2021-2023 and a list of priority laws for the next three years.