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 must involve Croatian business in the reconstruction of Ukraine today, while the fighting is still going on, while the war is still going on. And we need to rebuild the country on modern principles to make it better than it was before the war. We want to use Croatia’s 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 this end, we are working on insuring war risks, creating conditions for fair competition, protecting investments and building reliable state institutions.

We are currently working with the EU on a EUR 50 billion recovery plan for Ukraine, and we insist that it should include support for the private sector 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 growth in the economy – energy, green energy, logistics, construction, IT and digitalisation, processing, and military technologies.

“Our ports are blocked and we are a country that relies 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 is a new economic philosophy for Ukraine,” said the First Deputy Prime Minister.

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

“I am sure that the day after the war is over, investments will come to Ukraine. And for those companies that are currently considering Ukraine as a country for investment, there are already opportunities to find partners in Ukraine. We urge Croatian business not to waste time and to do all the necessary preparatory work to be able to fully implement their projects in Ukraine,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

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

“Croatia’s experience is very important to us. Indeed, the recovery here was quite rapid and it is now a prosperous country. I am very happy that our partners are willing to share this experience with us. They are ready to receive our design engineers to learn from the experience of Croatian experts. They are ready to send their engineers to Ukraine to help with the reconstruction,” concluded Yuliia Svyrydenko.

Croatia has done a lot to help Ukraine. Already 27,000 Ukrainian citizens have been granted temporary protection status in Croatia. The country has been active in providing 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.