The Administration and US business are looking ahead to the end of the war in Ukraine and the need for major reconstruction in the war-torn country.
Reconstruction will take years and the price tag will be high, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said yesterday at a conference sponsored by the US Chamber of Commerce to launch its Ukraine Business Initiative.
The current estimate of reconstruction costs is over $400 billion and growing. The US government cannot cover reconstruction on its own. “This has to be a public-private partnership,” Ms. Raimondo said.
US companies want to participate in Ukraine’s reconstruction, but they need to know what Ukraine’s priorities for reconstruction will be, how private and public funding will work together and how they can be reassured they will not be expose to any sort of corruption, she said.
To attract US business investment, the Ukraine government will need to offer a good business environment and a level playing field free of corruption, according to the Commerce Secretary.
Zero ToleranceShmyhal told the conference. The government has undertaken anti-corruption reform and is privatizing inefficient state enterprises.
Economic reforms are being made in order to achieve Ukraine’s goal of meeting the criterial for membership in European Union in two years.
“We are determined not only to win this war, but to be fully integrated into global value chains,” he said.
The EU will move on Ukraine’s accession as quickly as possible, according to Gert-Jan Koopman, European Commission Director-General of the Directorate for General Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations.
Meanwhile, Commerce is focused on ensuring that US export controls on Russia are “biting,” Deputy Secretary Don Graves said.
The US Chamber’s Ukraine Business Initiative will assist US companies in assessing risks and opportunities in Ukraine, communicate the requisite conditions for companies to begin commercial operations in Ukraine and promote a transparent, competitive environment in which companies enjoy equal access to projects.
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