June 10, 2015, Kyiv The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, together with A7 CONFERENCES, organized the "Ukrainian Agri & Food Strategy Forum" at Kyiv's Expocentre of Ukraine National Complex on June 3-4, 2015 within the 27th AGRO 2015 International Agroindustrial Fair. The Forum has become a unique platform for networking and cooperation between Ukrainian and international financial institutions. The event was attended by six official foreign delegations tasked with providing further cooperation schemes in the agricultural sector and ensuring detailed processing of prospective contracts related to financing of Ukrainian agricultural enterprises. "Small and medium-sized enterprises of Ukraine require immediate financial support. As of now the EU has generated $80 million through Ukrainian banking institutions in order to provide business circles with accesses to international loans," Head of EU Delegation to Ukraine. Ambassador H.E. Mr. Jan Tombinski said. Vladyslava Rutytska, Deputy Agrarian Policy and Food Minister for European Integration, in turn stressed: "We work closely with the Canadian government, as well as with the International Finance Corporation, the EBRD and the European Investment Bank on agrarian receipts aimed at meeting the demands of small- and medium-sized enterprises for current assets. I would also like to emphasize that the "Ukrainian Agri &Food Strategy Forum" has encouraged open discussion between business circles, foreign investors and the government of Ukraine as well as signing of a number of important agreements with our foreign partners particularly the Declaration of Intentions with the European Investment Bank aimed at financing the agrarian sector." Mrs. Olena Voloshyna, Country Manager for Ukraine, IFC, one of the biggest investors in the agrarian sector of Ukraine, said: "We are working hard to provide local companies with access to financing and innovations as well as to represent the competitive advantages of the agrarian sector, which is conducive to further investments." Among the speakers were: Deputy Prime Minister GennadiyZubko, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Oleksiy Pavlenko, Team Leader for Agriculture and SPS issues, SGUA, European Commission Nicolas Verlet, Director of the Eastern Neighbors and Central Asia Department at the European Investment Bank Heinz Olbers, Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine Roman Vaschuk, Partner, Dentons London Jeremy Cape, President of the Ukrainian Grain Association Volodymyr Klimenko, President of the Association of Production and Processing of Meat Industry "Meat of Ukraine" Natalya Dremblyuga, President of Agrogeneration John Shmorgun, and others. "As of now the solution of scarce resources that prevents the dynamic development of the agro sector demands a high level of responsibility from business circles and willingness to meet the challenges," said Olekasndr Grossu, head of the JSC UkrEximBank's Corporate Business Department. The Forum was supported by Dentons as the Exclusive Legal Partner, Baker Tilly as the Exclusive Audit Partner, AgorReforms.UA and Western NIS as Partners, Espreso TV was the General Media Partner, and Agroimena was the Official Media Partner. Media Partners included UBR, Apostrophe, AgroNews, Agrarian Commodity Exchange, Centre for Transport Strategies, Financial Director, Platfor.ma, Fixygen. The European Business Association in Ukraine was the Informational Partner. The event was held with the support of the Edinburgh Business School in Eastern Europe, Kyiv Mohyla Business School, Kyiv School of Economics, the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Real Estate Club (URE Club). Those who could not attend the Forum can find the full record of the event and detailed materials at www.a7conf.com/agro For any additional information, please contact Natalya Sherekina, tel. +38 044 227 27 77, +38 097 501 18 65, [email protected]
The Interfax-Ukraine News Agency was the General News Partner of the event.