XIII International Forum “Polish-Ukrainian Business Days” returned in a double format: some participants gathered at the Warsaw Stock Exchange, while the others joined the online broadcast.

More than 35 speakers, including high-ranking officials, officers, diplomats, public figures, representatives of big business, experts and specialists in various fields, analysts and lawyers from Ukraine and Poland discussed the issues of Polish-Ukrainian economic partnership in 5 panel discussions. The Forum has traditionally become a loudspeaker for ideas and optimizations of Polish-Ukrainian cooperation and establishing an investment climate, the access to cheap financial resources, the issues of logistics, trade and e-commerce – all the listed in the context of Ukraine-EU relations, energy partnership etc.

The organizers, namely Yaroslav Romanchuk, attorney at law, Co-Chair of the Board of the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland, Managing Partner of the EUCON Legal Group and Ireneusz Derek, Co-Chair of the Board of the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland, Director of Plastics-Ukraine addressed the audience with words of welcome. They also shared their consoling thoughts on returning to the offline format, noting the special importance of personal, face-to-face communication between government officials, professional experts and entrepreneurs.

The event was also marked by a special event – the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Exporters and Investors (REI) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland with the participation of Andriy Deshchytsia, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to Poland and Vasyl Bodnar, Deputy Foreign Minister. The interests of the Association were represented by Yaroslav Romanchuk, co-chairman of the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland (AUBP) Council. The purpose of signing the Memorandum is to strengthen support for Ukrainian business in the Polish market, to facilitate mutually beneficial cooperation between REI and the Association, given the active strengthening of trade relations between Ukraine and Poland and the growing number of Ukrainian exporters and investors in Poland.

The first panel discussion “Poland – Ukraine: results of 2020. The Impact of Covid-19 and Prospects for the Dynamic Development of Economic Cooperation” on statistics data related to the dynamics of Ukraine’s foreign trade partnership was started by the moderator of the discussion, Yaroslav Romanchuk.

During his speech Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation turned the spotlight on the success of implementing of the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s projects focused on education and mind-building of educational activity in Ukraine. In particular, Mykhailo Fedorov outlined the activities of the Ukrainian Foundation of Startups launched by the government. Up to now the Foundation financed 175 start-ups worth almost USD 5 million. Besides, the Minister told the audience about the innovative course on entrepreneurship in universities, the effective work of business support centers and the online portal “Diia. Business”. The speaker also noted the convenient services for business in Diia (this world is translated into English as “Action”), e.g. automatic business registration, payment of taxes in a few clicks, digital signature on a smartphone and online registration of market capacity operators.

Robert Tomanek, Deputy Secretary of State in the Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology stressed the positive dynamics in Poland’s fight against Covid-19, noted the completion of the government’s work on a new investment and export policy. Mr. Minister also spoke about practical tools to support business by the Ministry.

In support of business assistance in overcoming the consequences of the crisis, Vasyl Bodnar shared the experience of the Council of Exporters and Investors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, noting, in particular, the importance of working towards international support and partnership. “Poland is an extremely important economic partner of Ukraine,” the speaker said.

Andrii Deshchytsia noted the importance of offline meetings between business and government representatives, which have a positive impact on the dynamics of the Ukrainian-Polish partnership and the process of Ukraine’s integration into the EU. Mr. Ambassador stated that the number of Ukrainian companies entering the Polish market is growing from year to year, which helps to establish business contacts and improve the investment climate between the countries.

During the discussion, Ireneusz Derek addressed the important problems of the bureaucracy faced by Polish investors in Ukraine, which reduces its investment attractiveness.

Konrad Pawlik, Deputy Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, spoke about cooperation between the regions, real assistance to Ukrainian entrepreneurs in Poland, providing quality services to companies, infrastructure cooperation as an important element of Ukraine-Poland relations and EU integration.

Olga Magaletska, Head of the Office of the National Investment Council, provided data on trade between Ukraine and Poland, described legislative initiatives in Ukraine that help improve the investment climate, and the content of the draft law on investment nannies.

Consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, changes in the world social and economic paradigms, the significance of vaccination, the importance of transformation and adaptation of education, motivating young people to do business were the main issues Piotr Wachowiak, President of the Polish Presidential Council, Rector of the Warsaw School of Economics spoke about. “The main point is that every change is not considered a threat, but a challenge,” he aptly summed up his speech.

Vasyl Rakivenko, Chairman of the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland Board supporting his colleagues, stressed the importance of perceiving crises as a time for opportunities, as well as synergies and capital exchange between countries, optimizing the process of border crossing legalizing.

E-commerce, IT, changes were the main objects of the speech of Marcin Rutecki, the founder of the Club of Intelligent Business. The expert noted the “sagging” of cooperation in these areas, as opposed to traditional ones, noting the need to develop cooperation on modern sectors of the economy between Ukraine and Poland. Mr. Rutecki also drew attention to the potential of the gaming industry and Poland’s needs in the development of this area, as well as in the areas of e-commerce and the capital market.

The topic of the second panel discussion moderated by Yaroslav Romanchuk became the topic “Polish-Ukrainian investment potential. What’s next: stagnation or cautious optimism?”

Karol Kubica, Head of the Foreign Trade Bureau of the Polish Foreign Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH), stressed the improvement of communication between Ukraine and Poland, outlined the boundaries of PAIH’s activities, including the Kyiv branch, and voiced views on trade between Ukraine and Poland.

Sergiy Tsivkach, Executive Director, UkraineInvest presented to the participants of the event some interesting infographics on the main aspects of economic cooperation between Ukraine and Poland, outlined the activities of the largest Polish companies in Ukraine, gave interesting descriptions of Ukrainian investment incentives, and presented the activities of UkraineInvest, in particular in the context of relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Taras Yeleyko, Deputy Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, made a presentation on “Investing in Ukraine through privatization”, presenting important updates in the processes and projects of large and small privatization.

Ihor Baranetskyi, Counsellor and Head of the Economic Affairs Department of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Poland, spoke about active cooperation with the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland, intending to cross the USD 1 billion investment threshold. The speaker also stressed the importance of improving Ukraine’s investment image.

Piotr Borowski, member of the Board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange spoke about the quotations of Ukrainian companies on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, which are of interest to Polish investors, noting that Ukrainian youth living in Warsaw are also actively integrated into Poland’s economic processes.

According to Bartosz Majewski, Director of the SGH Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer, the crisis has made it impossible to implement many investment projects, but “there is a sense of business prospects: either now or never.”

Evgenia Avramenko, acting Director General of Kyiv Investment Agency, outlined the main activities, cooperation with international financial organizations and investment projects of Kyiv Investment Agency.

Piotr Paradowski, Head of the Investor Cooperation Department of the Economic Development Department, cited three socio-economic advantages of Warsaw: human capital, affordable offices and high standards of living, pointing out that Warsaw’s traditional sectoral leader is the technology industry for business.

Andrzej Rudka, Adviser to the Board of Konfederacji Lewiatan spoke about obstacles and barriers to cooperation and stressed that legislative stability and the rule of law are especially important for business and investment.

As part of the panel discussion, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between UkraineInvest, represented by Serhiy Tsivkach, Executive Director of the Investment Promotion Office of Ukraine Invest, and the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland, represented by Vasyl Rakivnenko, AUBP Chairman. The Memorandum was signed in order to actively cooperate in improving the investment climate between Ukraine and Poland, as well as to promote the development of investment by Ukrainian exporters in Poland and to attract Polish investors to the Ukrainian market.

The participants of the central 3rd session discussed cheap financial resources and EU instruments, in particular of Poland. The session was moderated by Jacek Kluczkowski, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine (2005-2011), a representative of the Institute for Eastern European Studies. He shared information on negotiations between the Polish government and the European Commission with the view to use financing and project funds.

Krzysztof Senger, Managing Director of the Bank of the National Economy of Poland (BGK), outlined the activities of BGK, spoke about the peculiarities of financing international projects, involvement in the pandemic, lending to Ukrainian entrepreneurs and Polish businessmen in Ukraine, and cooperation with exporters.

Michał Polanski, Director of PARP Support, spoke about receiving funding from PARP for small and medium-sized businesses, international activities in the field of grants and the use of financial instruments, assistance to start-ups, including Ukrainian ones, in obtaining funding.

Andrii Romanchuk, attorney at law, Partner of the EUCON Legal Group focused on Poland’s effective use of European co-financing, on available financial instruments for Ukrainian companies in Poland, in particular on the financing of start-ups relocated to Poland.

Oleksandr Movchan, Member of the Board of the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland, reported on corporate fraud risk management, in particular, shared his experience of involving the best European practices in combating corporate fraud.

Jaroslav Gzywinski, Partner, Head of Capital Markets assured that European funds are most effectively attracted to innovative sectors, such as the green energy and alternative sources sectors.

Artur Shevchyk, Chairman of the Board of the E-REPORT Accounting Bureau, justified the need to involve external accounting specialists, in particular, taking into account the need to regulate the tax aspects of the use of attracted investment funds and preventive measures to avoid the outflow of profits.

New opportunities for logistics, trade development and e-commerce in the triangle “Germany – Poland – Ukraine” composed the topic of the penultimate panel discussion of the forum, moderated by Marcin Rochniak, Chairman of the Board of Foreign Trade e-Agency (Poland).

Marcin Rutecki, Infron’s e-commerce and internet marketing strategist, analyzed the transformation of the e-commerce industry due to the insidious crisis, the prospects of cooperation between Germany, Poland and Ukraine in this area and the importance of choosing marketing strategies in this area.

Катажина Соколовська, представник NRW.Global Business – Агентства з торгівлі та інвестицій Німеччини в Північному Рейні-Вестфалії, зазначила, що  сфера логістики є ключовою у контексті трикутника «Німеччина-Польща-Україна», оскільки ці напрямки є вузловими та мають особливе значення у транспортуванні товарів різними засобами.

“The customer needs quality and speed. Therefore, in this context, the problems of borders, taxation, legislation and financial threats are really important, ” – concluded Yaroslav Romanchuk, and also mentioned the existence of prospects offered by e-commerce in the context of Ukraine’s European.

Pavel Dzhalak, CEO of Tpay, rightly noted that the need to move online is one of the main reasons for the rapid development of e-commerce, adding that the industry needs active development in Ukraine.

After the panel discussion there was signed a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Foreign Trade e-Agency and the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland. The interests of the FTA were represented by Marcin Rochnyak, the Chairman of the Board of the Agency and moderator of the fourth panel discussion of the forum, while on behalf of the Association there took part in the signing Vasyl Rakivnenko, chairman of the Board of AUBP. Establishing partnerships, developing the e-commerce industry, promoting the improvement of trade and logistics ties, supporting entrepreneurs in Ukraine and Poland are the main goals of signing the memorandum.

The final chord of the Forum made the fifth panel discussion “Energy Dialogue between Ukraine and Poland: Barriers and Opportunities”. The discussion was moderated by Stanislav Zinchenko, Director of GMK-Center, who provided a general description of the current state and prospects of Ukraine’s energy, hydrogen supply and the prospects of the Polish-Ukrainian partnership.

Maciej Kolacek, Maciej Kolacek, Head of International Affairs (Poland) told about the main activities and technical capabilities of PGNiG, the peculiarities of signing an agreement on urgent gas supply, PGNiG’s interest in significant gas deposits in Western Ukraine.

Serhii Savchuk, CEO, Clear Energy Group made review of the activity and achievements of Clear Energy, in particular, he told about the areas of cooperation with Poland.

Stanislav Kazda, Director on strategy development of Regional Gas Company outlined the company’s activities and paid special attention to the urgent need to redesign the Ukrainian gas supply system due to technical obsolescence thereof.

The Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland and the EUCON Legal Group thank all participants and speakers for taking part in the XIII International Forum “Polish-Ukrainian Business Days”! We are awaiting for the next events, stay tuned!

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