Ukraine to get own Unit of UN International PPP Center of Excellence

KYIV, Ukraine, February 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

The United Nations International PPP Center of Excellence in Ukraine will soon open in Ukraine to facilitate state-business cooperation, reports the State Agency for Investment and National Projects of Ukraine. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe will help create the center that will contribute to providing a better environment for investors in the country.

The Public Private Partnership Center (P3C) will be created as part of the investment reform currently underway in Ukraine. The government of the country seeks to improve the efficiency of its dialogue with the private sector with the help of the P3C. On July 1, 2010, Ukraine adopted the law on public-private partnership, which provides for the delegation of public-private cooperation managing duties to a special body within the structure of the state executive branch.

The objective of UN's Center of Excellence is to assist governments in implementing best practice in public-private partnership policy, according to UNECE report by Tony Bonnici of February 8, 2011. The Center's headquarters in Geneva coordinate activities of units in various countries. A number of governments confirmed their intention to host components of the Center: Germany, Greece (department for cooperation in the field of seaports), India (roads), Malaysia (sustainability), The Philippines (health), Saudi Arabia (water and waste water), South Korea (power), and Turkey (airports).

The agreement to create the Center emerged when a Ukrainian official Ihor Zhovkva, the Director of Department for National Projects at State Agency for Investment and National Projects of Ukraine, visited PPP Days 2012, jointly hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the World Bank Institute, and the Asian Development Bank, on February 21-24, 2012, in Geneva.

Ukraine is currently working on its investment attractiveness with the World Investment Report 2011 (issued by the UN trade and development body) listing Ukraine's FDI flow rate at 23 percent of gross fixed capital formation. Notably, the average rate of FDI flow for the CIS is 15,1 percent, while the global rate constitutes 9,1 percent.

In December 2011, the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine Jorge Zukoski named agriculture, fuel and energy complex, financial services, and production of consumer goods as the most appealing sectors of Ukrainian national economy for foreign investments in 2012.