At the W4UA summit, Roman Matys moderated a discussion on the opportunities and threats that will arise as Ukraine’s economy recovers, and on how to take into account the interests of everyone affected. It was an almost impossible task for such a short time, but we managed the essentials.
The panel included members of Ukraine’s parliament and government, experts from Polish-Ukrainian business and from civil society and academia. Here are the main points:
- Ukraine can expect an “avalanche” of resources for rebuilding infrastructure. Even big international corporations will not be able to absorb that much funding, so there will be work for everyone.
- The Ukrainian side has no plans, at least for now, for special tax regimes for business. The main task is to implement solutions that work in the EU.
- The slogan “People are the new oil” applies to Ukraine: human capital, its quality and skills are one of the country’s main competitive advantages.
- In several respects Ukraine is already a more convenient place to do business, above all thanks to digitalised processes. Reducing the human factor in public processes will significantly limit opportunities to influence decisions and the risk of corruption.
- Among the risks Polish experts raised from their own experience, I would highlight the need to support Ukrainian small and medium-sized businesses and to adopt regulations that protect their interests, because on their own they may not withstand competition from international corporations.
- Corporate social responsibility and the Sustainable Development Goals should become the handbook for Ukrainian business and government.
This is a very short summary of a discussion that was much longer, more detailed, more provocative and richer in substance.
