By KYIV. Nov 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Rostyslav Shurma, speaking at the Rebuild Ukraine conference in Toronto (Canada), spoke about the conditions for restoring the Ukrainian economy.
“We believe that the Ukrainian economy should be restored, first of all, through private business. However, due to military risks, any projects will be difficult for private investors to implement. That is why they should be built on the terms of public-private partnership,” Shurma explained, the press service of the President’s Office told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, today, there is a positive example of Germany and France, which provided state insurance for all their corporations that invested in Ukraine.
“We believe that this type of partnership will allow us to achieve two key goals. On the one hand, you will be able to profit from the investment, since Ukraine has many natural advantages. On the other hand, your governments will mitigate the risks arising from the war,” he said.
According to Shurma, Ukraine now has two opportunities for Canadian investors to make money. The first is related to the restoration of the country and the economy. The second is that Ukraine has natural advantages.
As an example, Shurma cited the experience of Westinghouse, which supplies nuclear fuel to Ukrainian nuclear power plants. “We are converting one reactor after another to Westinghouse fuel. And we are determined that 100 percent of the fuel will be purchased only from Westinghouse,” he said.
Another possible area for investment, he said, is the Ukrainian agricultural sector – a huge consumer of fertilizers, crop protection products, seeds and agricultural machinery, and therefore a market for Canadian producers.
“We will be interested not only in supplying these products, but also in localizing their production in Ukraine,” Shurma said.
According to him, any agricultural product produced in Ukraine will have advantages on the international market. “Chicken produced in Ukraine is one of the cheapest in the world. Due to the natural resources of our country,” he said.
Ukraine, he said, also has significant reserves of natural gas. The country has enormous potential for the production of solar, wind and hydrogen energy. It has the largest reserves of lithium and uranium in Europe.
“We are ready to work together with Canadian investors to develop these resources. For this, tools such as export credit agencies and guarantees from the Canadian government can be used,” Shurma said. In his opinion, true investment can only come in something that will be commercially successful. “The Ukrainian people really appreciate Canada’s help. Therefore, we really look forward to you investing in our country,” the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine said.
