Ex-CEO of Kraft Foods Ukraine, and now Vice Rector for Strategic Planning and Development of the Ukrainian Catholic University, Yurii Lohush is a longtime reader of The Day. He had made into ‘The Day addicts’ quite a few of his subordinates, as the publication had always been available both in his office and in the company’s customer service department. This time, we decided to ask him what topics may be interesting for further discussion on our pages.
“When I came to Ukraine in the mid-1990s, I was looking for the papers that would be not much worse than those I had read before when working around the world. It was no mean task as I had read The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Financial Times... Therefore, I decided to subscribe to The Day. By the way, when I served as Kraft Foods Ukraine’ CEO, the newspaper was always available at our customer service department for both employees and visitors to read.
“I like The Day’s humanities pages most. (I would like to thank your newspaper for supporting the national literary contest Coronation of the Word every year.) My favorite sections are Ukraine Incognita and History and I. I may not overlook your publication’s book series, too. Incidentally, your books Ukraine Incognita and Two Rus’es won honorary Public Recognition Diploma in the out-of-competition program of the Coronation of the Word in 2004. We realized that The Day and its editor-in-chief did as much for promoting history knowledge in Ukraine as we did for the Ukrainian literature. I must say that the abovementioned two-volume project was a veritable godsend to me, a historian by training, then.
“I would also like to mention that when looking at Ukraine through The Day’s perspective, one wants to live and work here. The publication demonstrates how majestic and rich in its cultural diversity this nation once was. Therefore, it can become so again.
“Since I had already drawn parallels between The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune and The Day, I would like then to see the Ukrainian paper to place even greater emphasis on developments in the economy and business. I am ready to offer expert opinions on the economy and higher education issues, and, probably, the modern Ukrainian literature, too. If you ask me for topic definitions, these would be attracting foreign investment to Ukraine, as well as, ultimately, attracting national investment in this or that project, socially responsible business, charity, and promoting Ukrainian-language books in the country’s information space, heterogeneous as it is. I think other experts on these issues will gladly join The Day’s expert pool.”
