Launch of Trade, Investment and Business Acceleration (TIBA) Project in Ukraine

Good morning.  It is a pleasure to be here on behalf of USAID today.  As you know we are launching a new project.  It is a two-year, $8 million project and it goes by the name of: Trade, Investment, and Business Acceleration program. We are very pleased that we have a few of our partners from the Ukrainian government here today for the launch and of course Mr.  Don Pressley from Booz Allen and Hamilton, which is a prime implementer of the project. USAID has been active in two areas that we have been pursuing for at least the last 6 to 7 years. One area that we are promoting through this project is Ukraine right now is at the doorstep of WTO and if it accedes to WTO, as expected later this year, this project will help Ukraine meet its close accession requirements. The second area that USAID will pursue through this project is improving the business regulatory environment in Ukraine and will be working with our partners from SCREPA to do such activities.   Ukraine has had record on improving its business climate.  There had been some good pieces of legislation enacted: one is the Permit Law and the other one is the Regulatory Policy Law.  But implementation of both of these laws has not been what it should be. There are several indices that are carried out by the World Bank and other organizations - Heritage Foundation, e.g.  that measure the business environment in countries.  What they do if they benchmark the progress in one country against another and Ukraine has consistently ranked in the lowest part of those categories for Business Freedom and doing business in the country. And so great interaction needs to be taken and on that note we welcome the Prime Minister’s statement in Davos last Friday when the Prime Minister announced that the Ukrainian government will be taking all measures soon to improve the business climate and our project will help once all those measures are announced. Let me just give you a few examples of how the project will work.  Once Ukraine accedes to the WTO, it is going to take some time for it to meet its international commitments.   This project will work with various departments in the government to help put into practice some of the commitments that the government has made.   Some of those areas include sanitary and phytosanitary standards which are part of the Codex Alimentarius.   One thing I would like to mention before I turn the floor over to Mr.  Pressley is that obviously with Ukraine’s biggest trade partner being the EU this project will require a lot of close and careful coordination with the European Union.   And so as our project will help Ukraine meet its international commitments and meet international standards.  The European programs will help Ukraine products meet European standards.   Let’s me turn over the floor to Mr.  Don Pressley, Vice-President of Booz Allen and, Donald, congratulations on winning this project.