XI International Forum “Polish Business Days in Ukraine” was held in Kyiv on November 14, it is one of the largest events that became one of the leading platforms for the development of Ukrainian-Polish relations. This year about 130 participants took part in the event including businessmen, civil servants, diplomats, public figures of Ukraine and Poland.
The forum was welcomed by Yaroslav Romanchuk, the President of the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland and Managing Partner of the “Legal Group EUCON”. He provided a brief analysis of statistics on Ukraine’s trade and economic relations with EU countries, namely with Poland, pointing to a significant increase in Ukraine’s position in this year’s “Doing Business” ranking.
The forum’s active work began with the First Panel Discussion on the issue: “Will Poland Become Ukraine’s Main Trade Partner and how can the Economic and Investment Priorities of Two Countries Change?”, moderator of which was Yaroslav Romanchuk.
Andriy Klochko, Chairman of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the organization of state power, local self-government, regional development and urban planning, emphasized the common roots and cultural ties between two countries, the policy of restoring mutual trust between two countries, including the cooperation of committees and economic cooperation.
“This forum is a good platform for strengthening economic, trade and cultural relations between countries”, said Bartosz Cichocki, Polish Ambassador to Ukraine. In addition, Mr. Ambassador noted the importance of joint projects and gave a positive prediction of the pace of reforms in Ukraine in connection with the advent of the new government.
Artur Dombkowski, Deputy Director of the Trade and International Cooperation Department at the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology of the Republic of Poland, discussed with his colleagues the role of tourism for the economy, the growth of trade between two countries, as well as the development and connection of business to strengthen relations, financial and technical investment issues.
Igor Baranetskyi, Advisor, Head of the Economic Affairs Unit of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Poland, in addition to the positive features in the relations between two countries, also spoke about problems in logistics, particularly, in terms of multimodal transport, highways, rail and port services.
“Poland is a chance for Ukraine to enter the European market”, said Karol Kubica, Head of Foreign Office, PAIH Polish Agency for Foreign Investment and Trade. According to the head of RAIH, it is necessary to support and develop investment projects and business. Mr. Kubica also stressed that Poland is interested in Ukrainian business and promoting its development.
Andrzej Trela, the Director of Development and Basic Relations at the Confederation of Employers of Lewiatan (Poland), noted that Ukrainian goods in Poland are popular, especially beverages. The expert claims that Ukraine needs expansion of geography and scale of export.
The panel discussion was concluded by Piotr Siarkowski, Chairman of the International Society of Polish Entrepreneurs in Ukraine, who voiced the need to change the negative environment for business development – reducing pressure from the authorities, improving justice.
The second panel discussion, which was moderated by Jacek Kluczkowski, the Coordinator for Ukraine of the Institute for Eastern European Studies; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine (2005-2011), was dedicated to the issue “Construction and infrastructure projects, search for synergy and value chain of Polish and Ukrainian business partners”.
After the welcoming speech of moderator Jacek Kluczkowski, the first among the speakers was Victor Dovhan, Advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, who spoke about the preparation of concession projects, namely road transport, limiting the number of road transportations in Poland as a negative factor, the need to increase air travel.
Czesław Warsewicz, Chairman of the Board of PKP CARGO (Poland), shared information on 10 European infrastructure projects currently being implemented by Ukraine, Poland and Belarus. The speaker also emphasized the need to invest in the development of transport corridors.
Andriy Miroshnykov, Director of the “Ukrzaliznytsia” Department, spoke about railway connections with Poland, as well as plans for the construction of terminals in the direction of Kovel connection, the creation of a national railway carrier on the basis of “Ukrzaliznytsya”.
“The crossing of goods from Poland to Ukraine, including auto spare parts, is a kind of cooperation and participation of Poles in Ukrainian business”, said Mariusz Chabrowski, the Deputy Director of Construction Export of the UNIBEP S.A. (Poland), not ignoring the issue of customs clearance at the border.
Oleg Yaroshenko, Executive Director, Confederation of Builders of Ukraine, gave a meaningful description to the three laws that were adopted this year and which simplify the terms for conducting business activities in the field of construction. Moreover, these laws apply to the reformation of the State Architectural and Construction inspection of Ukraine, investment in construction, rationing in construction, etc.
Olexandr Kiktenko, CEO of “Stalex” (Ukraine), added that improvements in the investment climate, development of industrial parks and cooperation between Ukraine and Poland in the field of railroad construction will be positive.
Vadym Sen, Owner, CEO of SenVGroup z o.o. (Poland), in turn, characterized the development of the machine-building market in Ukraine and Poland, as well as the peculiarities of doing business and business interaction in the specified field between two countries.
The discussion ended with two informative presentations – Yaroslav Romanchuk presented the Ukrainian Business Hub project in Warsaw,
Bartosz Maiewski and Mariusz Stroyny, representatives of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer (Poland) presented the study “Central and Eastern Europe on Global Trends: Economy, Society and Business”.
“Poland’s investment attractiveness as a promising market for joint Polish-Ukrainian investment projects” was exactly the topic of the Third Session of the Forum. Its moderator was Dariusz Górczyński, Director of the Department of the “Plastics-Ukraine” LTD.
Having received the word, Sergiusz Szapowal, owner of InPL Group (Poland), spoke about groups of Ukrainian businesses in Poland (among clients), tax rates in Poland, and the benefits of free economic zones in Poland.
Yevgen Kyrychenko, owner of “Gremi Personal” (Poland), an international agency for outstaffing, gave an informative presentation on “Gremi Personal”’s activity as an outstaffing company, particularly, he spoke about the peculiarities of organizing the employment of Ukrainians in Poland, the necessary points for launching a startup and finding staff, what benefit can be gained from using outstaffing services, as well as how to find reliable partners.
Andrii Romanchuk, an attorney-at-law, a partner of the “Legal Group EUCON” (Poland), told the audience about the benefits and privileges for PJSC, the benefits of Poland for investing and launching startups, the benefits of protecting creditors, the features of PJSC registration, liquidation and turnover.
Oleksandr Shatkovsky, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development expert, spoke about the project of implementation of the WTO public procurement project and the features of new revisions of the laws on public procurement in Ukraine.
Inha Livandovska, a lawyer of the “Legal Group EUCON” (Poland), reported on public procurement in Poland, noting that a public procurement reform is currently underway in Poland, there is a law that will come into force in 2021, but the question on introduction of electronic system remains open because it is in the process of being developed and it is unknown how it will work in practice.
Tetyana Chuzha, the representative of Polish Investment and Trade Agency of РАІН, presented the activities of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency.
The Fourth Panel Discussion on the Experience and Problems of Modernization of District Heating Systems for Large Cities” was the final conclusion of the XI International Forum “Polish Business Days in Ukraine”. The final discussion was moderated by Volodymyr Buzinov, avisor to the Mayor of Kharkiv.
Michał Świątecki, heating and energy expert of Kelvin Sp. z o.o. (Poland) spoke about the modernization of heating and energy systems, the need for large-scale financing and the problems of upgrading.
Yulian Chaplinsky, Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine for European Integration discussed the problematic issues of the district heating system in Ukraine, expressed his views on the modernization of the systems and receiving experience from Western colleagues, and also spoke about regional peculiarities of district heating.
Credit line from the World Bank for “Kharkiv Thermal Networks”, use of new systems, simplification of access to new technologies – these are the main issues which was highlighted by Sergii Volyk, First Deputy Director General of Kharkiv Thermal Networks. The speaker also outlined several areas of activities of “KTN” and indicated the features of working with users.
In turn, Jerzy Żelasko, Vice Chairman of the Board of Kelvin Sp. z o.o, spoke about the specifics of heat supply and utilities in Poland, problems and the vision of ways to solve them.
Olexandr Bobryk, Director of the Technical Development Directorate of “Kyivteploenergo” CE, was a remarkable end to the fruitful work of the Forum. Thus, the speaker spoke about the need for laying new heating systems, closing inefficient boiler rooms, modernization of existing ones.
This year’s forum was marked by a variety of thoughts, new ideas and projects, great plans for the future, interesting discussions, informative, pleasant and fruitful communication. We are confident that the XI International Forum “Polish Business Days in Ukraine” has contributed to the improvement of Ukrainian-Polish relations and that the plans outlined will be implemented as soon as possible! So on to new meetings!
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