Ukrainian PM meets with U.S. business reps

MOSCOW. April 17 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal and U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine's Economic Recovery Penny Pritzker have met with U.S. businesspeople.

"The central issue is inviting American companies and investments to Ukraine. We want the U.S. to be one of our key partners not only in the defense sector but also in the economy. The Export-Import Bank of the U.S. is providing $3 billion to finance contracts and projects in Ukraine," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Shmygal as saying in a social media post.

Shmygal and Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko are representing Kiev at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington.

Shmygal said that he had told the U.S. business representatives present at that meeting about the most promising sectors in Ukraine, such as energy, agriculture, the defense industry, critical raw materials mining and processing, as well as information technologies.

"I invited our partners from the U.S. to set up a supervisory board for the Ukraine Invest government office in charge of raising and supporting investments. It will include the heads of American companies. This will help improve our cooperation, encourage an inflow of new American investments to our market and facilitate the operations of American companies in Ukraine on a day-to-day basis," he said.

The Ukrainian government's representative to the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnichuk, in turn, was cited by Ukrainian media outlets as saying on social media following Shmygal's meeting with U.S. business representatives that "Ukraine creates the most favorable investment climate to encourage potential investors."

U.S. investments are key to economic recovery and growth in Ukraine, Melnichuk said. Ukraine is also interested in developing logistics routes and the energy sector.