Ways to improve Ukraine’s integration into NATO from the economic standpoint, the role of small and medium Ukrainian business in stepping up Ukraine’s integration into Euro-Atlantic structures - these issues were discussed by the round table «Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic Integration as Seen by Ukrainian Businesspeople,» organized by the New Formation All-Ukraine Association of Entrepreneurs, assisted by the NATO Documentation and Information Center (DIC).
NATO is expanding. In 2004, it will admit seven members: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. DIC Director Michel Dure, addressing the round table, said that the expansion process is for the future members not only a guarantee of security, but also and undeniably a positive factor for economic growth; countries receiving this internal security will see an increase in foreign investment, as foreign investors are primarily interested in countries kept stable from within. Investments, however, are absolutely depoliticized and placed only in the right environment, regardless of the existing political system.
Ukraine, after declaring Euro-Atlantic integration its course, is faced with a number of requirements, including free and transparent elections, guaranteeing freedom of expression, upgraded arms export monitoring system, and most importantly, a higher economic level. How can this country quickly become a prosperous state without raw material resources? New Formation’s Chairman Vyacheslav Kredisov believes that this could be achieved mainly by advancing small and medium businesses. He said that the SMB level is an inalienable economic development index in any country; SMB is the locomotive that drives this development. All [civilized] countries refer to the SMB ratio as a major factor of stability and wellbeing. SMB share in the GDP of the developed countries amounts to at lest 70%. It is 50% even in the less developed ones, such as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. In Russia, it is over 20%; in Ukraine, experts set it at 10%. Most dishearteningly, SMB passivity in Ukraine appears to be chronic. For the past five years its share in the Ukrainian GDP has remained the same, never exceeding 9%, with some 20% jobs provided by SMB, considerably lower than in the developed countries and those in the process of obtaining NATO and EU membership, where the ratio is above 50%. Mr. Kredisov further pointed out in his speech at the round table that the Ukrainian SMB situation is improving; in other words, if and when its GDP share reaches and surpasses 50%, when SMB provides 50% jobs, when this sector becomes really important for society, only then will Ukraine have achieved the actual economic prerequisites for integrating with NATO and the EU.
As it is, Oleksandr Dicheka, President of the Sakura firm, said Ukraine’s small and medium business are subjected to severe pressure from the state, which acts according to the Stalinist notion of happiness for the masses, while whoever has anything ought to be forced to part with all of it and then be returned half. Immediate reforms are necessary to change the situation; primarily, a transparent and stable legal network (the tax code must be enacted immediately), reducing to the minimum the government’s regulatory powers, while placing the government under the people’s control. To do so, above all political will is required, said Volodymyr Barabash, Director General, Monomakh Co., Deputy Chairman of the New Formation. Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration priorities rest not only on international security, but also on this country’s economic interest, because security is not all that important if there is nothing to protect. On the contrary, the better off Ukraine becomes, the greater importance will be attached to its security.
