Despite the update of the XII International Forum «Polish-Ukrainian Business Days» has traditionally remained a leading voice of ideas for optimizing Polish-Ukrainian cooperation, a platform for discussion, initiation and creation of interesting infrastructure, investment, business projects, acquaintance of Polish and Ukrainian entrepreneurs and dialogue with the authorities of the two countries.
More than 30 speakers, including high-ranking officials, deputies, officials, diplomats, public figures, big business representatives, experts and specialists in various fields, analysts, economists, lawyers from Ukraine and Poland, etc., during four sessions and eight hours they discussed the most important aspects of the Polish-Ukrainian economic, state and business relations, and the participants of this event were more than 120 participants.
The event began with a panel discussion «Polish-Ukrainian economic cooperation: current status and prospects. Dynamics of recent years», Yaroslav Romanchuk, President of the Ukrainian Business Association in Poland, and Ireneusz Derek, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Business Association in Poland, the moderators of the forum, welcomed the participants and speakers on behalf of the organizers of the forum. The moderators noted that the new conditions forced a partial rebranding of the forum and transform the format, adapting to all not only epidemiological but also technical requirements. The Covid realities motivated several economic, political and social changes that affected, in particular, the development of Poland and Ukraine, as well as their relations, which became the subject of discussion. Yaroslav Romanchuk also provided up-to-date statistics on indicators of Polish-Ukrainian economic relations.
Ihor Baranetskyi, Counselor, Head of Economic Section at the Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland read a welcoming speech by Vice Prime Minister – Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov, who noted the prospects for the development of Polish-Ukrainian relations, as well as future prospects for the reintegrated territories of Donbass in the context of these relations, wishing the forum productive work.
The Chairman of the Council of Entrepreneurs under the President of Poland, Piotr Wachowiak, focused on the changes in the economy caused by the coronavirus, analysis and predictions about the further development.
Andrii Deshchytsia, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland, spoke about the Embassy’s plans to develop economic relations, use new technologies in the context of modern times, focusing on border issues.
Deputy Director of the Department of Trade and International Cooperation, Ministry of Development of the Republic of Poland Aleksander Siemaszko spoke about active communication with Ukrainian partners, ways to improve economic cooperation, features of trade cooperation between Ukraine and Poland.
Active entry of Ukraine into the international market, investment climate between Poland and Ukraine, legislative changes in the context of investment relations – about these and other issues spoke the Head of the Office of the National Investment Council of Ukraine Olha Magaletska.
Piotr Ciarkowski, Chairman of the Board of the International Society of Polish Entrepreneurs in Ukraine, focused on the benefits of investing in Ukraine as a developing economy with labor and intellectual resources.
Oleksandr Gromyko, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Business Council, spoke about Ukrainian production of machinery, competition, production of Ukrainian export products for sale on the European market and competitiveness of domestic products.
The need to change the economic model in a pandemic, promising economic sectors of Ukraine, namely IT and energy – are the aspects of Polish-Ukrainian economic relations that should be noted in the opinion of the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer, SGH in Warsaw Bartosz Majewski.
Jan Kalinowski, II Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine, noted the peculiarities of Polish-Ukrainian economic cooperation, the results of this cooperation and problematic aspects, in particular the problems of customs.
«Polish-Ukrainian financial instruments and solutions for business, search for synergies, practical aspects of doing business» became the main theses for discussion of the participants of the second session of the forum, moderated by Ireneusz Derek – Chairman of the Board of the of Ukrainian Business Association in Poland.
Director of the Investment Center, PAIH Polish Investment and Trade Agency Jan Kamoji-Czapiński described a list of key tools for investor support, namely the Polish investment zone and government grants.
Volodymyr Stavniuk, Chairman of the Board of the State Innovation Financial-Credit Institution of Ukraine, presented the activities of the SFII and spoke about the institution’s support, participation and financing of joint Polish-Ukrainian investment projects.
Increasing interest of Polish investors and the National Economy Bank of Poland in cooperation with Belarus and Ukraine, available banking instruments – are main theses of Feliks Kobierski, an expert of the Trade Finance Sales Department, the Banking Operations Department of the National Economy Bank of Poland.
Counselor, Head of Economic Section at the Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland Ihor Baranetskyi, continued the session, aptly noted that the main way to maintain competitiveness is to create joint ventures.
During the session, Deputy Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine Taras Yeleiko presented the program of small and large privatization with the help of general digitalization.
Partner, Head of the office of EUCON Legal Group in Warsaw Andrii Romanchuk shared his experience of supporting Polish investment and infrastructure projects, the operation of Ukrainian companies in the Polish market.
Vasyl Rakivnenko, Chairman of the Board of SERVIRED, concluded the session with his speech, stressed the need attracting the Polish experience of using progressive financial instruments.
The most productive was the third session of the forum «Construction and infrastructure projects, the search for synergies and chain of value added of Polish and Ukrainian business partners», moderated by Yaroslav Romanchuk.
Jan Styliński, Chairman of the Board of the Polish Association of Construction Employers, expressed the interest of Polish investors in the Ukrainian construction market, but stressed the problem of lack of awareness about the peculiarities of the Ukrainian market.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine Oleksandr Rotov, have spoken about the need to lobby of laws in Poland and Ukraine aimed at facilitating construction companies, promoting joint projects, including infrastructure, the need to create joint Polish-Ukrainian construction organizations.
Andrii Klochko, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning, stressed that the Ukrainian authorities are planning new and promoting existing joint infrastructure and construction projects.
Andrii Klochko, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning, stressed that the Ukrainian authorities are planning new and promoting existing joint infrastructure and construction projects.
At the end of the session, Inha Livandovska, Senior Lawyer at EUCON Legal Group, focused on the process of registering a company in Poland, settling migration issues and participating in public procurement.
During the session there was an idea to sign a memorandum between the Polish Association of Construction Employers and the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine, which has significant prospects.
The final chord of the XII International Forum was the fourth session «Energy Dialogue between Ukraine and Poland. Investment Opportunities and Strategic Prospects», during which the prospects of Polish-Ukrainian energy relations and potential energy opportunities of Ukraine were discussed.
The session was moderated by Maksym Biliavskyi, an expert of the Razumkov Center.
Mykhailo Kukhar, a Senior economist of the Ukraine Economic Outlook, described the impact of the crisis to Ukraine’s economy, announced the latest data on economic indicators and stressed the relative stability of certain parameters in times of crisis.
Director of the Regional Gas Company Oleg Nikonorov presented a large-scale construction project a hydrogen supply network, not avoiding the issue of partnership within the project and gas distribution infrastructure.
Wojciech Jakóbik, Editor-in-Chief of BiznesAlert.pl, commented on existing energy analytics in Poland, and Director of the Institute of World Policy. Yevhen Mahda focused on the issue of addressing geopolitical challenges and common defense in Poland and Ukraine.
The issues of improving the investment attractiveness of Ukraine in the field of energy and natural resources and investment advantages of Poland formed the basis of the speech of the Executive Director of the National Association of Extractive Industries of Ukraine Kseniia Orynchak. Andrii Brodskyi, CEO of Velta, spoke about the difficulties of mining in Ukraine and the need for legislative reform in this area.
Taras Tokarskyi, Deputy Executive Director of Clear Energy, returning to the discussion of Ukrainian energy projects, stressed the readiness of Ukrainian energy companies to cooperate, in particular with Polish ones, while Yelyzaveta Belei, a lawyer in support of energy investments, stressed a number of positive legislative changes in the field of energy.
At the end of the forum, Olha Kulyk, Deputy Director of the Analytical Department of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, and Oleksii Shulha, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Energy Association, spoke about the need to increase Ukraine’s investment attractiveness in the energy sector and the Ukrainian oil market.
At the end of the event, the speakers noted the convenience and effectiveness of the new forum format, which was held online for the first time.
In addition, this year’s meeting was marked by many new ideas for cooperation and special productivity.
The participants expressed hope that in the future the epidemiological situation in the world will allow us to return to the classic offline format.
The Ukrainian Business Association in Poland and the EUCON Legal Group thank all participants and speakers for participating in the XII International Forum “Polish-Ukrainian Business Days”! Looking forward to the next events, stay tuned!