Ukraine ready to sign individual deals with large investors

The Ukrainian government is planning to amend
legislation to enable the Cabinet to sign individual deals with large
investors, Economy Minister Tymofiy Mylovanov said on television on Jan. 27.
Such deals could be signed with all large investors (those investing over USD
100 mln in Ukraine), including those already present in Ukraine, he said. The
deal could foresee some guarantees from the government, including tax
privileges or commitments for throughput capacities. Also, such deals will
allow an investor to go to international courts for resolving any disputes,
which resolves the problem of the lack of trust in local courts, Mylovanov
said.

Recall, in his speech in Davos on Jan. 22, President
Volodymyr Zelensky announced an Investment Nanny program
that will involve individual treatment of investors and bringing more than USD
100 mln to Ukraine.

Alexander Paraschiy: For large
investors, the possibility of avoiding Ukrainian courts, and gaining special
individual treatment from the government, could indeed become an attraction
point. Still, such initiatives confirm the government not only understands the
key weakness of Ukraine’s investment case – poor rule of law – but
unfortunately lacks the confidence that it can remove this weakness in the
mid-term.