Yushchenko meets Latvian businessmen

Victor Yushchenko has met with Latvian businessmen to outline potential directions of Ukrainian-Latvian cooperation, President's press offcie reported.

Victor Bondar, Ukraine’s Transport Minister, Yuriy Polyachenko, Health Minister, Anatoly Maksyuta, First Deputy Economy Minister, Raul Chilachava, Ukrainian Ambassador to Latvia, Victor Kapustin, Ukreximbank Head of the Board, Serhiy Prokhorov, First Vice-President of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Olena Podolyeva, Vice-President of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, Andris Vilcāns, Latvian Ambassador to Ukraine, Andris Ozols, Director of Latvia’s Investment and Development Agency, Aigars Stokenbergs, Latvian Economy Minister, Valdis Birkavs, Head of the Board/Strategic Alliance “Construction Partnership”, and Vilens Kancerovs, Head of the Latvian-Ukrainian Council for Economic Cooperation, attended the meeting. 

The Head of State first spoke about last year's remarkable achievements of our aircraft-builders, who sold 48 planes. He said Ukraine strived to become an active player on the international aviation market and “so needs partners for that.”

Mr. Yushchenko said Ukraine also tried to display its huge transit capabilities and added that in 2006 the government was going to build and repair many roads. He added that the big share of the funds to build new roads was given by European investors.

The President then said Ukraine was now experimentally supplying light oil to the Czech Republic and also planned to build a sea port in Donuzlav, which he described as a “very promising project.”

The Chief of State opined that one of the fields Latvia and Ukraine might cooperate in was energy and particularly energy efficiency: “We all understand that energy security is a result of cooperation of many national strategies.”

He said Ukraine was interested to involve investors in exploring the Black Sea shelf and promised to conduct a few tenders this year.

The President then expounded policies carried out by the Ukraine government to establish an active dialogue with local and foreign entrepreneurs and create a competitive economic environment. He said the government had succeeded in legalizing the economy and improving VAT payments.

Valdis Birkavs, Forum Moderator, said Latvian businessmen were interested to take part in projects that would be implemented in Ukraine.

“We are ready for large-scale cooperation with Ukraine and want to share our experience of working on the EU market and cooperating with the European bank,” he said, adding that few Latvian bankers were already working in Ukraine.