December 2015
Foreign investors do not consider Ukraine as a pass to the Russian market, says the Director General of Concorde Capital Investment Company Igor Mazepa.
Investment attractiveness of Ukraine will not change because of suspension of the Russia/Ukraine Free Trade Area Agreement (FTA) – says Director General of the Concorde Capital Investment Company Igor Mazepa in his comment to the “GORDON” edition.
“Investment attractiveness of Ukraine is not particularly high, and after the suspension of free trade with Russia, it will not change. I have not met foreign investors who would be interested in Ukraine with the aim of getting access to the Russian market. I did not meet in recent years, for sure. In case of a zero interest, it cannot become less, “- says the investment banker.
According to him, free trade agreements with the European Union (EU) and Russia could have acted in parallel.
“I do not see any problems in the simultaneous application of FTAs with the EU and Russia provided a transparent implementation of customs procedures, well-functioning of the system, which allows easy tracking of the country of origin. A decision to suspend has been adopted primarily for political reasons. In addition, the Russians, probably expect that their corrupted officials and lack of transparency may cause losses when the EU/Ukraine free trade area agreement will take an effect”, – points out Mazepa.
On January 1, 2016, the agreement on establishing a free trade zone between Ukraine and the European Union comes into force. The Russian authorities repeatedly stated that the agreement was incompatible with the free trade regime between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
The Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a Decree “On suspension of the free trade zone agreement by the Russian Federation with regard to Ukraine” on December 16.
