Economic resilience is one of the key elements in ensuring the state’s resilience against external and internal challenges. A strong defence sector, a flexible and diversified economy, a developed agro-processing complex and ample opportunities for human capital development are the guarantees of our and Europe’s security.

This opinion was expressed by First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko during her online speech at the 15th session of the European Economic Congress, which is taking place in Katowice, Poland, on 24-26 April.

This year’s European Economic Congress focuses on current trends shaping the prospects for future economic growth and the social and political environment. The business program includes discussions on the war in Ukraine, Ukraine’s support and recovery, global conflicts, the impact of the economy on climate and the environment as well as green transformation.

“For Ukraine, the EU candidate status was a strong signal of the European community’s solidarity with our struggle for independence and territorial integrity. A new system of international security is impossible without Ukraine. And in this context, Ukraine’s resilience is the basis to strengthen Europe’s resilience in the years to come. To ensure our and Europe’s security, Ukraine must have a sustainable and strong economy. To accomplish, we need to implement reforms to bring about structural changes in the economy,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The First Deputy Prime Minister noted that the Government of Ukraine had set itself an ambitious goal – to pave the way from candidate to full EU member as soon as possible. This includes ensuring full integration into the EU’s Single Market even before accession.

Ukraine’s new economic model should also be based on five components. These are energy independence, development of the military-industrial complex and strengthening of the army, Ukraine’s status as a guarantor of global food security, humanitarian demining and development of the IT industry and human capital.

Yuliia Svyrydenko stressed that Ukraine must quickly and thoroughly demine the war-torn areas, which cover approximately 174,000 square kilometres. Ukraine is open to investment and business development in this sector. This is also an investment in Europe’s security. Clearing the Ukrainian land of the consequences of war is also important in the context of global food security, of which Ukraine wants to remain a guarantor in the future.

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The European Economic Congress is one of the largest economic events in Central Europe hosted by Katowice, Poland. The event is attended by politicians from the EU and other countries, representatives of economic ministries of Governments of various countries as well as an international group of investors and entrepreneurs representing various sectors of the economy.