Issue 1,
23 May 2006
On 18 May, Yulia Tymoshenko was in London to meet privately with investment bankers, and address bankers and business leaders at a dinner organised by the British-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce.
In her speech, Tymoshenko outlined the investment opportunity for Ukraine and reassured potential investors that if she became prime minister, her government would do everything in its power to engender a stable and predictable economic environment, respecting property rights, the rights of investors and the sanctity of contracts.
She also vowed to bring clarity and lessons on the politics of privatization to a close. Courts, not elected officials, would determine the outcome of commercial legal disputes. “It will be a priority of the courts to decide on the re-privatisation issue. The authorities shouldn’t interfere in the process of ownership,” said Tymoshenko.
She continued to say that simplified fiscal and taxation policies would be pursued, interventionism curtailed and bureaucracy eliminated in order to promote an environment attractive to business and investors. “We aim to repeal another 5,000 acts to make it easier to do business in Ukraine,” said Tymoshenko.
Tymoshenko outlined a raft of measures to stimulate investment. These included a review of credit policy to attract foreign banks, plans to simplify the purchase on non-agricultural land and the creation of economic zones with low customs duties.
Conveying a business-friendly agenda, she said lightheartedly, “I hope this goes to prove that I don’t eat babies for breakfast or businessmen and investors for dinner.”
The London speech follows an address by Tymoshenko, last month, to the American Chamber of Commerce in Kiev and a speech, on May 11, at the Goldman Sachs Chief Investment Officers’ conference in Vienna, by Hryhoriy Nemyria, Member of Parliament and Tymoshenko’s foreign policy adviser. Nemyria addressed an audience of investment professionals which collectively manages about $15 trillion, or close to half the value of the world's stock markets.
“A Tymoshenko government will be economically responsible: a force for stability and a catalyst for investment and growth,” said Nemyria. “Economic considerations will be top of our agenda.”
The first issue of BYUT Inform is also available in PDF by clicking here.
