By KYIV. Nov 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s largest telecom operator Kyivstar, owned by VEON, is an important pearl of the Ukrainian economy and has been an important participant in helping the Ukrainian people over the past two years, talk about its nationalization would be a step backwards, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike R. Pompeo said, who recently became an independent member of the supervisory board of Kyivstar.
He said in an interview with NV published on Wednesday that talking about nationalization would be a step backwards because Ukraine would need a huge amount of private sector investment, foreign direct investment, and support from Europe and the United States private sector to overcome the consequences of the war.
Pompeo said Kyivstar served the Ukrainian people incredibly well and was incredibly generous.
The former U.S. Secretary of State stressed that if property rights, including those of shareholders in the United States, are not protected and companies that benefit the Ukrainian people are not preserved, this will be a strategic mistake for Ukraine and will make rebuilding Ukraine and supporting that country in subsequent years much more difficult and expensive, and capital flows much more limited.
In his opinion, the time to attract foreign investors to Ukraine is now.
Pompeo recalled that he was in Kyiv a few months ago with a group of private investors from the construction industry to the telecommunications industry, who were looking for ways and places to invest and generate profits for their shareholders, but also at the same time do the important reconstruction and recovery work that needs to happen inside Ukraine.
The member of the supervisory board of Kyivstar said that American investors are fully prepared to do so, but they must do so with confidence that they can invest in Ukraine in a way that is beneficial to their companies, that their workers will be treated well, and that the capital they invest to Ukraine, will be protected from confiscation or nationalization by any one.
