A Half of Something or All of Nothing?

On Friday, I visited the United States Department of Commerce in Washington to meet with a representative of the relevant department and experts who deal with the issues of supporting Ukraine.

The meeting lasted over an hour and I presented in full a previously drafted policy document on economic development.*

American partners were soon convinced and fully agreed with the need to create export credit agencies in Ukraine (they emphasized, “our structure, to a large extent, is a huge export-credit agency”). Their government agency for small businesses (the Small Business Administration, which has operated in the U.S. since 1953!) has supported industrial parks with temporary tax preferences for new investors (Americans, emphasizing the correct approach, quote Bill Clinton, “Would you choose a half of something or all of nothing?”).**

Our American colleagues, like Oleg Lyashko and I, and many of our colleagues in Parliament, consider the IMF program only as a “safety cushion” — temporary support for deep structural reforms, rather than their substitute.

Also discussed were questions about the fight against smuggling at customs, tools for reducing the shadow economy, mechanisms to attract investment in infrastructure projects, and an affordable approach to privatization. The dialogue will be continued in Ukraine, together with Stepan Kubiv, when the American ministerial delegation visits Ukraine in the summer.

In addition, it was proposed to expand the format of strategic communication and involve not only senior officials in discussions, but also the department heads from the Parliamentary Committee and representatives of the factions that deal with appropriate Parliamentary reform (Nina Yuzhanina, who runs a [working group to implement] systemic tax reform, the elimination of smuggling at customs and corruption in Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service; Sergey Rybalka, who is in charge of systemic reform and development of the financial sector; and others like them). Reform without effective communication with parliamentarians is impossible, and the imitation of reform satisfies nobody.

*Editor’s Note: The author, Viktor Valeriyovych Halasiuk, is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament with positions that include deputy leader of the Radical Party of Ukraine on Economic Policy and co-chair of the U.S. Caucus in the Parliament of Ukraine.

**Translator’s Note: Quote is as written in English in the original article.