We Need People in Government to Champion Our Interests Abroad - Bakhmatyuk

This is primarily in the interests of the state itself, says Oleg, owner of one of Ukraine's largest agricultural holding companies, the URLANDFARMING group, Oleg Bakhmatyuk.

He spoke about this in an interview with Ukrainian week". When asked what the most effective model of cooperation between business and the state is, the businessman said that he did not believe in partnerships between business and the state, but it is in the state's interest to represent business in foreign markets. "Business pays taxes, and the state provides it with everything it needs to operate while promoting it to foreign markets. The role of the state in foreign policy is very important, as it represents the country and promotes its goods and services. In this sense, Ukraine is lagging behind: I can tell you this from my own experience," the businessman said.

"Take Georgia, for example. In the short period after Russia's military aggression, they attracted about $4.5 billion in grants from the European Union. Their emissaries were in Europe, Asia, Japan and Korea. This gave an impetus to the development of this small country. There must be people who represent the interests of business abroad and help major global players enter our markets. This is how I see the government's main task," said Oleg Bakhmatyuk.

In his opinion, the government should first and foremost develop a strategy for the economy's development. "It has to understand what our place in the world is, where we want to go, and whether we are relevant to the world. The second is a mechanism for raising incomes. The government should use these two mechanisms to stimulate the economy without causing strong outbreaks of inflation, by managing transitions and understanding where innovative approaches can be used. Another task of the government is foreign policy: we cannot live in isolation from the global economic system. We need to build a policy of communication with the world through economic interest — and therefore, we need to think about how to make the world interested in us," Bakhmatyuk said.

He believes that Ukraine can primarily be a target for the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Asian countries and Oceania. "It is these latter, which are huge in size, that will become the drivers of the global economy for the next 20-30 years. From them, we can get a significant financial resource for the development of our territories. So at this stage, we need people who will promote our products," said the owner of the agricultural holding Ukrlandfarming.

"Ukrlandfarming is one of the country's largest agricultural holding companies engaged in the cultivation of grains and oilseeds, seeds, livestock and egg and egg products (Avangardco IPL). The companies of the group operate in 600 settlements in 22 regions of Ukraine. The holding company is owned by Ukrainian businessman Oleg Bakhmatyuk.

Ivan Boiko