Ukraine and the United States continue a dialogue on stimulating investment, financial support for government programmes for citizens and businesses, concessional lending, as well as the removal of anti-dumping duties applied to imports of Ukrainian metal products. This was discussed during the meeting between Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Marisa Lago, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka and Deputy Minister of Economy Volodymyr Kuzio.
“We discussed with our American colleague the urgent problems facing both Ukrainian businesses and American entrepreneurs working in Ukraine and ways to overcome them. In particular, support in developing the labour market is very important for Ukraine. We discussed the possibility of involving American partners in the implementation of training and retraining programmes, strengthening women’s leadership in the labour market, creating conditions for veterans to find employment or start their own businesses. We also discussed potential cooperation in developing the affordable housing market and deepening the partnership between the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Ukrainian Financial Housing Company (Ukrfinzhytlo) to expand the eOselia mortgage programme. Deepening economic and trade cooperation with the United States is an important contribution to our economic self-sufficiency,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.
The parties also discussed the possibilities of expanding the availability of war risk insurance instruments for investors and deepening cooperation with the Export Credit Agency of Ukraine.
The meeting also touched upon bilateral trade between Ukraine and the United States. Yuliia Svyrydenko thanked the partners for suspending tariffs on Ukrainian steel products for another year and extending duty-free access to the U.S. market for steel products manufactured in the European Union using Ukrainian semi-finished products.
In addition, the two parties discussed the possibility of lifting seven anti-dumping measures currently in place against imports of Ukrainian steel products in the future.
Another topic of discussion was the Trade and Investment Cooperation Agreement, which should facilitate the involvement of American businesses in reconstruction projects. Ukraine and the U.S. plan to start drafting an annex to the protocol on trade facilitation and customs administration. Also this autumn, Ukraine and the United States may update the annexes to the protocol on good regulatory practices and on the prevention of corruption.
“We are convinced that the development of cooperation in such areas as trade facilitation and customs administration, regulatory practice, prevention of corruption, and support for small and medium-sized businesses will create the right conditions for improving the business environment in Ukraine,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko. (Government portal)