Thus, more than 150 businessmen, young entrepreneurs, civil servants, specialists in various spheres, public figures and cultural figures of Ukraine and Poland became participants of the Event; they were listening to 20 speakers.
PROGRAM OF THE EVENT
The forum’s work was started with the greetings of Yaroslav Romanchuk, the managing partner of the EUCON Legal Group, the president of the Ukrainian Business Association in Poland, and Irenaeus Derek, the chairman of the Board of the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland, the Director-General of the “Plastics-Ukraine”. Mr. Romanchuk and Mr. Derek stressed out that the relations between Ukraine and Poland are growing every year, especially in the economic and political spheres; therefore the question of the vector of development of these relations is extremely important. Speakers also provided statistical data on trade relations between the two countries and identified the main areas of commodity exchange.
Tadeusz Koscinski – Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Enterprise and Technology of Poland, Michal Gerhon – Deputy Minister of Emergency and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine, Andriy Melnyk – Head of Investment Promotion Instruments Division of the Department of Investment Attraction of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Grzegorz Bacziewski – Director General of Confederation of Employers Lewiatan, Yaroslav Romanchuk – President of the Ukrainian Business Association in Poland, Irenaeus Derek – Chairman of the Board of the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland, Piotr Tsiarkovski – Chairman of the International Society of Polish Entrepreneurs in Ukraine, Jacek Kluczkowski, as a moderator, – coordinator of the Institute for Eastern European Studies, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine (2005-2011) were participants of the first panel discussion “Polish-Ukrainian trade and economic cooperation: boom or stagnation?”
The speakers discussed the growth of Ukraine’s exports and imports over the past two years after the 2014 crisis, the strengthening of trade relations between Poland and Ukraine, the improvement of the Ukrainian investment climate, the progress and prospects of combating corruption, and improving the judicial system and working conditions of Ukrainians in Poland. Furthermore, the panelists focused on problematic issues of consumer capacity, investment capacity of business, access to new financial markets, active exchange of labor resources between Ukraine and Poland, customs issues, etc.
Thus, particularly, Tadeusz Kosciński told participants in detail about the level of export and import relations between Ukraine and Poland.
Michal Gerhon, in turn, has shown the improvement of the investment climate in Ukraine and progress in the fight against corruption and improvement of the judicial system. “Every year and every month we become more important partners, but we still have a long way to go,” said Jacek Kluczkowski, the moderator of the panel discussion. Andriy Melnyk spoke about promising sectors of the development of Polish-Ukrainian relations, namely, industrial parks, development, import of gas through ready-made terminals in Poland, etc.
Grzegorz Baczevsky said that one of the most urgent issues is the labor migration between Ukraine and Poland and the use of Ukrainian labor resources in Poland on mutually beneficial terms. Thus, the speaker told about the exchange of labor resources between the two countries, some special Polish mechanisms for opening the Polish labor market for the East, a simplified system of employment, etc.
“Yes, there is a boom, a moderate boom with a huge prospect, for implementation of which the existing problems need to be resolved, namely, the corruption, the inefficiency of the courts, the shortage of good personnel who go overseas, as well as problems on the border of Ukraine with Poland,” said Piotr Tsiarkovsky.
Speakers discussed the issues of the transformation of market relations and the economic course of Ukraine, the most important aspects of transport and logistics cooperation between Ukraine and Poland cooperation in the specified sectors of the two countries, current transport directions and their associations, problems with carriers quota, the most important infrastructure issues between the Poland and Ukraine, repair and construction of roads in Ukraine in the Polish direction, problems of quality of service at customs, the smuggling and the corruption at the Polish-Ukrainian border, the issue of the functioning of ports, etc. in the framework of the second panel discussion “Transport corridor from Odessa to Gdansk: what are the prospects and readiness of customs, port, railway and automobile infrastructure?”
Kateryna Selyannyk, Head of the Export Policy Development Policy Group of the Directorate for Strategic Planning and Coordination of State Transport Policy of the Ministry of Infrastructure, provided the participants with fresh statistical data on the growth of trade and economic relations between Ukraine and Poland. Thus, according to the Ministry of Economy data, exports from Ukraine increased by 8% and imports by 10%.
Jan Kalinowski, the second secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine, spoke about the development of infrastructure in Ukraine and Poland and the interaction of the two countries in this area. The speaker told about the road condition, the work of the port in Gdansk and the car connections between Ukraine and Poland.
According to Olexandr Vlasov, acting Head of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, taking into account the needs of the Polish consumer, Ukraine is well-client-oriented. In addition, the speaker pointed out the main activities of the SFS of Ukraine in the fighting crimes at the customs. Igor Tkachuk, Chief of the Administration of the Odessa Seaport, told participants about the activity and prospects of the development of the port of Odessa, particularly, in the context of economic relations with Poland. Among the speakers of the second panel discussion there were also Jan Zralek – Advisor to the Minister at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Poland and Anna Yurchenko, Deputy Director of the Department of Strategy and Coordination of the “State Agency of Motor Roads of Ukraine”.
The topic of the third panel discussion was “The Polish-Ukrainian Construction and Infrastructure Projects: where the business of the two countries should invest, what are the opportunities for cooperation and what are the prospects for building materials manufacturers?”
Taras Tokarsky, Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services, Ivan Saliy, President of the All-Ukrainian Union of Building Material Manufacturers, Oleksandr Kiktenko, President of the “Stalek” Ukraine, Marek Golia, Director of the Representation MIRBUD SA Poland, Robert Lasek, Managing Director, Wolfs Group, were participants of the discussion.
Taras Tokarsky told participants about the construction volumes in Ukraine, the level of construction materials exports, the impact of decentralization on the development of the construction industry in Ukrainian villages, towns and cities, and the need to take on the experience of Polish colleagues. Olesandr Kiktenko, in turn, stressed out the need for the market to function in terms of integrity, honesty and financing of various industries.
Robert Lasek highlighted the importance of security and labor and business insurance, told about the existence of various interesting modern projects both in Ukraine and in Poland, and pointed out the lack of financing and investment and the advantage of Ukraine in the presence of good specialists.
Karol Kubica , Head of the foreign office of Polish Investment and Trade Agency in Kyiv, Jana Pidlisna, Head of Intellectual Property and support inventive State Innovation Finance and Credit institutions, Tomasz Rusak , Chairman of the Customs agency RUSAK (Warsaw), Artur Szewczyk, Senior consultant on accounting and tax accounting, EUCON Legal Group (Warsaw), Michal Spala, Attorney-at-law, EUCON Legal Group (Warsaw), Valdemar Chok, Tax Advisor, EUCON Legal Group (Warszaw), Lesiia Lutsyuk, Head of Corporate Clients customs logistics management of “Ukrtransahent” were participants of the fourth session “The state support, assistance, currency regulation and financial and banking tools for Polish-Ukrainian business. Practical pieces of advice for business when entering the Polish market, company registration, tax details, accounting, customs procedures”.
So, Karol Kubica noted that the innovation is the best product for investment and exports. Medicine, cosmetology, food products are well-developed and have a positive influence on the development of other industries, they will be invested in both Poland and Ukraine. Yana Pidlisna made a comparative description of the peculiarities of the functioning of state financial and credit institutions and business, and also spoke about the branches that are financially supported by the State Innovative Financial-Credit Institution. Arthur Shevchyk told about the features of accounting and tax records, typical mistakes of Ukrainian residents of Polish companies and the legal consequences of such mistakes. Michal Spala told about the lease and purchase of property and objects by foreigners in Ukraine and Ukrainians abroad, particularly, on the mechanism for carrying out these actions by Ukrainians in Poland.
During coffee-breaks, participants had an opportunity to discuss with each other what they have heard, to exchange experiences with colleagues, to find like-minded people, and get new acquaintances during a cup of warm coffee.
The IX International Forum “Days of Polish Business in Ukraine” will be remembered by participants for its interesting discussions, communication and positive tune-ups on the prospects of development and strengthening of business ties between Ukraine and Poland!
Let’s recall that the Polish-Ukrainian business forums were launched in 2014, since then they are held twice a year: “Days of Polish Business in Ukraine” is held in autumn (Kyiv) and “Days of Ukrainian Business in Poland” – in spring (Warsaw).
Video report from the forum by TV channel ZIK
Video report from the forum by Channel 5