The publisher of Business Ukraine magazine shared with the Truman team project what Ukraine currently represents to foreign investors: an opportunity or a risk not worth taking?
In an interview with the KYIV NOT KIEV project, Peter Dickinson mentioned that he began receiving a large number of inquiries related to doing business in Ukraine as soon as the Armed Forces won the battle for Kyiv and russian forces were expelled from the Kyiv region and North of Ukraine. He does not anticipate that foreign investors will come to Ukraine tomorrow, but he notes their incredible interest and desire to see and experience the country. "There's now a sense that this country will become an EU member state, that it has enormous amounts of resources, first and foremost human resources. The Ukrainian people have really impressed the world over the last year and a half. They've really captured the world's imagination, and people are looking to be part of this Ukrainian story," he comments.
Peter draws attention to the fact that Ukraine has long time faced image problems that made it difficult for the country to assert itself and gain international visibility. Disproportionate attention to corruption issues, associations with crime, poverty, and specific events like Chornobyl have created numerous image challenges for the young nation. However, the image has now completely transformed. "You're talking about a high-tech country, full of ingenuity, full of clever people who are doing great things, full of resilience, dynamicism," according to Dickinson. In his opinion, the characteristics associated with Ukraine are now so positive, exciting, and interesting that they will contribute to attracting huge volumes of investment in the coming years, initially from the public sector and later from the private sector.
In professional circles, there is discussion about whether now is the time to call on foreigners to join Ukraine's reconstruction. Whether the message directed outward from Ukraine should, on the contrary, be unified, without other distractions. And that message is: help Ukraine win the war. Peter Dickinson believes that there is room for various messages. There are no perfect conditions for investments, for business projects. Therefore, waiting for these conditions in the future is not advisable. We need to move forward right now. As an example, Peter mentions companies like McDonald's and Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Carlsberg, which are expanding their operations in Ukraine, investing in existing infrastructure and new facilities. There are others considering the possibility of making a similar decision. A key factor they will focus on is the availability of insurance against war risks. Pilot projects in this direction have been introduced, but the direction itself is developing.
Peter Dickinson is very optimistic about the future of business in Ukraine. He particularly highlights the success of the defense technology sector, which is at the intersection of Ukraine's developed IT industry and the military experience gained in recent years. "Peace will be a massive dividend for Ukraine, but things are moving and will move in the coming months before we get to that point.”
