Ukrainian President Promotes Ukraine's National Projects in Southeast Asia

KYIV, Ukraine, April 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych has completed his state visits to Singapore, Vietnam and Brunei, where he called the Southeast Asian businesses to invest into the Ukraine's National Projects. They include 10 strategically significant investment opportunities which receive a preferential treatment from the state institutions and are set to reposition Ukraine of the world investment map.

During his trip to Southeast Asia President Yanukovych has called the Singaporean and Bruneian businessmen to participate in the project of preparation for Euro 2012 as well as in the project on construction of sea LNG terminal, Interfax reports.

Las year the government of Ukraine approved the list of the National Projects in four priority sectors - "New Energy", "New High-quality Infrastructure", "New Quality of Life" and "Olympic Hope 2022." The President made it clear that the state would support the National Projects through the necessary legal and regulatory reforms aimed at simplifying the process of licensing and other regulatory procedures. "We set for ourselves the ambitious tasks of creating a qualitatively new innovation-based economy. And by our joint efforts we will bring them to fruition" added Viktor Yanukovych.

To raise the country's investment attractiveness, in 2010 the Ukrainian leadership embarked on implementing several key reforms, namely tax, administrative and anti-corruption. The first step in this process was taken in December 2010, when the Draft Tax Code was adopted. The number of taxes according to this document was reduced from 42 to 23 and the main tax rates (income tax and VAT) decreased.

To stimulate foreign investments, in July of 2010, the Parliament adopted the law on public-private partnership. According to the law, foreign businesses, which are involved in public-private partnerships in Ukraine, enjoy the national regime for investment and business activities and have additional guarantees protecting their investment.

On the macroeconomic perspective, the country is showing clear signs of recovery from the crisis after two years of economic recession. The International Monetary Fund estimated Ukraine's GDP growth in 2010 as 3.7 perent and forecasted that country's GDP would grow by 4.1 percent in 2011. According to the IMF, the inflation rates in Ukraine will average 9 percent in 2011.