Ukrainian prospects in China

On 25 February the English-language weekly Kyiv Post held a conference on doing business with China. In spite of the turmoil in Ukraine and numerous projects on hold due to market conditions, the Chinese investments are considered as prospective.

Some Ukrainian companies shared their experience of searching for business partners in China and setting a presence on its market.

Yevhen Romashchyn, CEO of Corum Group, noted that IP protection issues remain the key concern for foreign business in China. Despite significant advance in local IP legislation, copying is still present there. Thus, protection of technical solutions is vital point of any business strategy in China. The most perspective industries for Ukrainian investments in China are those pertaining to import substitution. These are machine-building in the energy sector, wind and hydroelectric engineering.

Viacheslav Lysenko, president of Ukr-China Communication paid attention to the fact that Embassies and former trade representatives play a very important role in promoting bilateral investments. Further, industrial expositions are probably the best way to find a reliable partner in China. He advised to keep certain cultural specifics of China in mind.

From the agricultural perspective, Vladyslava Rutytska, deputy minister of agrarian policy and food of Ukraine, said that there is currently an intense schedule of meetings for cooperation purposes. And this requires adoption of a state program for cooperation with China.

Aivaras Abromavicius, the Minister of Economy, once again sounded governmental priorities in pursuing deregulation and improving the investment climate. He added that state property management is another important concern, as dividends from state enterprises are 0.2% GDP, and this is a very low figure.

As for cooperation in the energy sector, Deputy Energy Minister Ihor Didenko informed about the signing of a USD 3.6 billion loan facility to Naftogaz of Ukraine extended by the China Development Bank.

The speakers discussed the protective policies of the Chinese government on its domestic market. For this reason, wide-ranging marketing research is pivotal for doing business with China.