PM Shmygal seeks 'Ukrainian economic miracle', invites Japanese businesses to invest in Ukraine

MOSCOW. Feb 19 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal has invited Japanese businesses to invest in Ukraine.

"The Ukrainian government is studying Japan's modernization experience and is analyzing everything that allowed the Japanese economy to enter the world's top five largest economies, so that there could be a 'Ukrainian economic miracle' too," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Shmygal as saying in a social media post on Monday following the Tokyo-hosted Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction.

He offered a list of key sectors where Ukraine is inviting Japanese businesses to invest it. They include the energy sector, i.e. nuclear power generation, gas production and storage, hydrogen energy projects, and hydropower. In the agricultural sector, it is the production of fertilizers and food production. As for infrastructure, it is the construction of high-speed motorways and railroads, bridges, as well as the restoration of ruined cities. The list also includes auto-making, extraction of mineral resources, IT, digital technologies, and cybersecurity.

During the conference in Tokyo, Ukraine and Japan signed 56 intergovernmental agreements, memorandums and agreements between businesses and local authorities, Shmygal said.

"In particular, the parties signed an intergovernmental convention on avoidable double taxation, more than a dozen agreements on support for Ukraine's recovery with powerful Japanese organizations (JICA, JETRO, the NEXI Export Credit Agency and Japan Bank for International Cooperation), grant agreements on implementing reconstruction programs, a number of documents between the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy Ministry and Japanese companies on supplying various agricultural machinery and equipment to Ukraine, and an intergovernmental memorandum on cooperation in education and technologies," Shmygal said.

Naftogaz of Ukraine, for its part, agreed on a wind power project, while the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine signed a memorandum on preparations for upgrading gas compressor stations, he said. Documents in the energy sector, telecommunications, infrastructure construction and the environment were signed as well.

"Japan has already demonstrated its position as a leader in providing financial support to Ukraine. Japan should now become one of the leaders in Ukraine's recovery and investments in our economy," Shmygal said.