Chamber News

U.S. exporters informed about opportunities in Ukraine

On 16 July the U.S. Commercial Service conducted a webinar for potential new-to-market American exporters to Ukraine. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt kicked off the webinar, entitled Doing Business in Ukraine: The Rebirth of a Nation, by providing U.S. companies with the ground truth about the challenges and opportunities in Ukraine. Other speakers included: Matthew Edwards, director of the Office of Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration; Michele Smith, a сommercial officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev; and Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. More than 70 organizations tuned in to hear about Ukraine’s macroeconomic situation, as well as the best export prospects, market challenges, and practical aspects of doing business in Ukraine.

This event was a follow-on event to the larger U.S.-Ukraine Business Forum held on 13 July, where U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk gathered together with high-level government and business leaders from both countries to discuss Ukraine’s economic reform agenda and opportunities to improve trade and investment between our two countries. The Forum, which was attended by 150 senior Ukrainian and American business and government executives, including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian Ministers of Agriculture, Economic Development and Trade, Finance and Infrastructure, was co-hosted by the Department of Commerce and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Hunder stressed that The Chamber and U.S. Commercial Service are working together at multiple levels to ensure that U.S. businesses understand that Ukraine’s economic foundation is strong. For smaller, new-to-market companies, it should be emphasized that despite today’s challenges, Ukraine is at a sharp turning point in its history and on the verge of an economic comeback.

Ukraine has chance to become the main IT Services Supplier in the world

IT companies in Central and Eastern Europe are becoming the most reliable and innovative suppliers of information technologies and business services in the world. Experts drew this conclusion after a series of meetings with the world’s leading IT analysts and consultants, who for the first time in history came to Kiev and Odessa to present their own reports. A series of conferences with the participation of the leading companies in the region were organized by Luxoft Company and supported by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine.

Dmitri Kushner, VP Global Delivery Locations, Luxoft stated: “The Ukrainian Government should as soon as possible develop an attractive comprehensive proposal for those considering investing in the IT market. As one of the largest players in the industry, we would like to actively work together with business associations and Government to make it happen. I am confident in close cooperation we can do it and then we could expand the export potential of other service industries like knowledge process outsourcing, business process outsourcing”.

Emphasizing the role of IT industry in restoring Ukraine’s economic growth, Andy Hunder said: “While communicating with potential foreign investors we see that the Ukrainian IT sector is among the most interesting for them. Ukraine will only win if two or three industries drive economic growth, in particular the knowledge economy. The IT sector will definitely attract investors in case of offering them some specific benefits arising from the development of IT products in Ukraine”.