UAM President Oleksandr Gromyko congratulated the participants and outlined the Association’s strategic goals, the advantages of joint efforts to protect the interests of the national commodity producer.
An important strategic step of the Association in this direction was the signing of a memorandum of cooperation on June 26, 2017 from the current Head of DFS Myroslav Sold. The document provides for the exchange of information on customs value, informing the DFS from the Ukrainian Association of Manufacturers about the facts or intentions of unlawful movement of goods across the customs border of Ukraine, unjustified or unlawful delay or violation by the officials of the DFC of the procedure of customs control and customs clearance of goods, violation of anti-corruption legislation , which will further protect the members of the Association and make it impossible for gray importers to distinguish between under-invoices of similar denominations, such as and produced in Ukraine.
OAV Ivanovko, director of the UAV, told about the organization’s activities for the previous year and revealed the key directions and plans of the Association for 2018, in particular the creation of a program of integrated support of the domestic commodity producer, aimed at three main vectors:
- Defending the interests of the Association’s members at the state level.
- Promotion of export activity of the Association’s member enterprises (in particular, participation in the largest world exhibitions in Guangzhou, Berlin, Istanbul, Dubai, Warsaw and other cities on preferential terms with 50% compensation of expenses at the expense of investment funds)
- Support to the bills of the coalition “For the shadowing of the economy”, aimed at shadowing the economy and creating a level playing field for business.
Also, members of the meeting were represented by the Association Council, whose elections were held on the eve of the general meeting.
Then the participants of the event presented their companies and made reports, in which they talked about the achievements of their enterprises, shared their experience and paid special attention to the problematic issues. Particularly informative and interesting were reports by Oleksandr Gromyko concerning the transfer of full cycle production in Ukraine (Kaniv and Cherkasy) of refrigerators, washing machines, ovens, convectors, heat fans, meat grinders, electric kettles and other home appliances “Saturn”. Gromyko is convinced that practically any importer of household goods from China and Turkey will be able to organize successful production in Ukraine if he sets the goal of export to the EU countries. The Association of Manufacturers is ready to help both starters and assembly plants, as well as those who are ready to expand their production capacities, from all issues – from certification to finding the necessary equipment. The shareholder of Iceberg Ltd Oleg Antonenko also told about his successful experience in the export business of his company.
The final part of the general meeting of the UAV was extremely important. Officials from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Export Promotion Office were invited as speakers, whose delegation was headed by the Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska, the Trade Representative of Ukraine.
She talked about the latest news from the Ministry of Commerce in support of national manufacturing enterprises, announced free trade zones, which include Ukraine, and preferential regimes, which are also distributed to representatives of our country. Also, the participants were informed about the creation of an export agency in Ukraine in 2018 – https://epo.org.ua/, the priority of which is to help exporters to enter new markets. Applying in our own export activities relevant information on preferences at the state level will allow meeting participants to be more competitive. As the information was extremely useful, an interesting productive dialogue was launched with the deputy minister.
Further, the Adviser to the Minister for Trade on National Export Strategy Olesya Zaluska made a report on the national export strategy and stressed that this document is important from the point of view of the long-term prospects for the development of Ukrainian exports, and Maryana Kaganjak, Head of the Export Promotion Office (EPO) at the MERCA and the Minister’s Adviser Trade outlined the scope of the advisory body under the MERC which it manages, described in detail the organization of trade missions, the provision of exporters with analytical materials on foreign markets and pr EPO conduct educational activities.
In the end, the representative of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund Vitaliy Bigday provided information on the fund’s programs that envisage structural changes in the Ukrainian economy, aimed at the sustainable development of domestic export enterprises and strengthening Ukraine’s positions in foreign markets in general. He confirmed the information that the associations as an association of exporters can apply to the fund for irretrievable financial assistance in support of export activities (participation in foreign exhibitions, conducting educational events, etc.).
The final word was taken by the president of the UAV, Alexander Gromyko. He thanked the speakers for useful information, and listened to the actual questions and expressed his wish for further cooperation between the Ministry and the Association.
