Expert: Ukraine will face economic growth after signing Association Agreement

KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine should expect economic growth, same as in Poland, after the signing of the free trade area and Association Agreement with the EU. Such statement was released by one of the world’s leading specialists on Ukrainian economy, senior fellow of the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, Swedish economist Anders Aslund in his interview with btb.tv channel. The number of foreign direct investments into Ukraine will increase and transform its economy, he stressed.

“It will be a complete transformation of Ukrainian economy, like the one we saw in Poland,” said the economic transition expert Anders Aslund. He compared the economy of both countries and noted that these were not just neighboring states but their economies were also similar. He reminded that when Poland entered the German supply chain its GDP grew threefold when compared to its 1990 reports.

The analyst believes that European investments will go into priority sectors of Ukrainian economy including the production of goods and services while Ukrainian companies become subcontractors of the European ones. According to Aslund, Ukrainian IT sector will increase tremendously, while agricultural sector would experience the continuous development.

Interestingly, on September 24 the EU member states have agreed to offer provisional application of about 90 percent of the deep and comprehensive free trade area section and more than half of the political part of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement after it gets signed.

Ukraine and the EU started negotiations on a new agreement back in 2007. On March 30, 2012, the parties have initialed the free trade area and Association Agreement. On December 10, 2012, the EU Foreign Affairs Council has approved the conclusions on Ukraine, where they expressed willingness to sign the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in November 2013, provided Kyiv demonstrates decisive action and tangible progress in three key areas: fair elections, reforms implementation and elimination of selective justice. On September 18, 2013, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the draft Association Agreement with the European Union. The signing of the agreement is tentatively scheduled for November this year at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius.