At the “Made in Ukraine” forum, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced the need for a radical change in state economic policy. Supporting Ukrainian production should become one of the key priorities for the Government and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as a component of Ukraine's resilience and defence capability in times of war.
Dmytro Kysylevskyi, the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Economic Development, shares his vision of what real changes should be behind this message:
The problem of the shameful share of imports in public procurement must be resolved – before the invasion, this figure was close to 40%. Now no one measures it, because until recently, promoting Ukrainian production was not a key objective of state economic policy. In the EU, the figure is around 5%.
Manufacturers and exporters should receive better conditions from the state in terms of support, taxes, demand and access to procurement than importers. This is what all economically developed countries do. We should do what they do, not what we are sometimes advised to do.
We have to get rid of illusions about the willingness of foreign investors to invest in a country that is living under occupation. It's time to put our faith in protecting Ukrainian investors. The argument is simple: Ukrainian investors are the last to flee under fire. And Ukrainian industrial investors do not flee at all. They are simply rebuilding and continuing to work. When Ukrainians invest, foreigners will invest.
Attracting investment through industrial parks, programmes to promote the construction of new plants and modernisation of existing ones, and job creation in the processing industry should be the criteria for assessing the effectiveness of regional authorities.
Avoiding blocking the work of Ukrainian enterprises should become a mandatory rule for law enforcement and other government agencies when conducting any inspections or procedural actions. The country also expects changes in this direction from the judiciary.
The diplomatic service should revive the participation of industrialist delegations in foreign visits of state leaders. This is a widespread international practice and, if you like, a certain norm of etiquette for such visits.
Buying Ukrainian should become fashionable. It's time for Ukrainians to abandon their economic inferiority at both the political and household levels. Buying Ukrainian is one of the forms of participation of each of us in the war against the russian invaders.
I don't expect these changes to happen overnight. But the fact that “Made in Ukraine” is declared a priority and a task at the highest level gives our country a chance to win, break out of poverty and join the club of wealthy European countries. An industrial country will always win over a raw material country.