Speaking at the Ukrainian-Croatian Business Forum, which brought together the heads of more than 60 local companies, Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, called on entrepreneurs to take part in Ukraine’s reconstruction. Today, private investors have a unique opportunity to do all the preparatory work to start their business before Ukraine wins the war.

"Ukraine needs to involve Croatian business in rebuilding Ukraine today, when the fighting is still going on, when the war is still ongoing. We have to rebuild the country on modern principles to make it better than it was before the war. We want to use the Croatian experience to do this," said Yuliia Svyrydenko in her speech at the business forum.

According to the First Deputy Prime Minister, Ukraine’s losses during the war have already exceeded USD 400 billion, based on World Bank figures. The country will therefore need major investment to recover. And above all, the Government is counting on the private sector.

"That is why we need to attract foreign investment. To do this, we are working on insuring military risks, creating conditions for fair competition and investment protection, and building reliable state institutions for this purpose. Right now, together with the EU, we are working on a €50 billion recovery plan for Ukraine, and we insist that it should provide support for private business and guarantees for investors," Yuliia Svyrydenko continued.

According to her, the Government is now focusing on the development of industries that can provide the greatest economic growth – energy, green energy, logistics, construction, IT and digitalisation, processing and military technologies.

"Our ports are blocked, and we are a country that is dependent on export revenues to fund the army. We need to find a way to reduce the volume of physical exports without losing export revenues. That is why the development of processing industry is a new economic philosophy for Ukraine," said the First Deputy Prime Minister.

In her speech, Yuliia Svyrydenko emphasised that, immediately after the victory, Ukraine will have great economic opportunities, given its future integration into the European Union.

"I am sure that the day after the war ends, investments will come to Ukraine. And for those businesses that are currently considering Ukraine as a country for investment, opportunities are already opening up to find partners in Ukraine. We urge Croatian businesses not to waste time and do all the necessary preparatory work to be able to fully implement their projects in Ukraine," Yuliia Svyrydenko stressed.

Ukraine also wants to draw on Croatia's experience in rebuilding the country, as a third of the country was under occupation and 20% of the housing stock was destroyed during the war.

"Croatia's experience is very important to us. After all, the recovery here has been quite rapid and it is now a prosperous country. I am very glad that our partners are ready to share this experience with us. They are ready to host our engineers and designers to learn from the experience of Croatian experts. They are ready to send their engineers to Ukraine to support the reconstruction," summed up Yuliia Svyrydenko.

Background:

Croatia has done a lot to support Ukraine. Already 27,000 of our citizens have been granted temporary protection status here. This country has been actively helping with humanitarian aid. More than EUR 60 million has been allocated for these needs. Ukraine has also repeatedly received large amounts of military assistance from Croatia. And the Croatian government has adopted a special programme for the treatment and rehabilitation of Ukrainian soldiers and their families.