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Twenty-four years of independence of Ukraine should have taught us one thing: independence means an efficient, modern competitive economy, decent standards of living, and most importantly – the high ability of the government and society, authorities and businesses to join their efforts for the promotion and protection of national interests. This opinion was expressed by President the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE) Anatoliy Kinakh on radio.
"Once I voted for Ukraine's independence in parliament, and I have felt responsibility for this decision for my entire life. It is great injustice that the advantages Ukraine had at the beginning of its new era – high industrial potential, an excellent geographical location, natural resources – have not been exploited. I am convinced that power and responsibility are synonymous, and it is time to conduct an honest and frank dialogue between the government and society, pull the entire political courage together and make an accurate diagnosis for the economy and the state system, and then hammer out clear, systematic solutions to overcome the crisis, and then make them reality in a prompt and faithful way," he stressed.
Kinakh is sure that the risks the country is now facing are unprecedented in their scope. The ongoing, long-lasting military operation in Donbas, annexed Crimea, the complete loss of the eastern foreign markets, a decline in the population's solvency, and the shrinking domestic market constitute a serious threat to the economic independence of Ukraine and the preservation of its statehood and its territorial integrity. In his opinion, other threats also make the situation more dangerous. The slow pace of reforms, the low quality of governance at all levels of the system power – up to its degradation both in personnel and in the mental sense are now being observed in the country. Deindustrialization continues – these are the conclusions to be drawn from a decline in GDP in the first half by 16.3%, a decrease in industrial production by 20% and in exports by 35%. Fighting corruption often looks like its imitation.
"We are very concerned that in such circumstances, the country does not have a strategy for ending the crisis and a strategy for developing the economy further. The anti-crisis program of joint actions of the government and businesses that was prepared by the Anti-Crisis Council of NGOs of Ukraine (its members include about 100 national business associations, experts and scientists) is not what the authorities are eager to make use of. There is a deep crisis in transport engineering, but there is no systematic vision by the state on how to address it. On January 1, 2016, a free trade regime with the European Union will take effect, but a national strategy for the adaptation of the country's economy to the conditions in the EU hasn't been adopted yet. The lack of basic economic systematic programs and respective efforts to implement them push Ukraine to the margins of global processes, adding more probability to us to become a third world country," Anatoliy Kinakh said.
The consolidation of efforts by the government, society and the business community should be determined by the state as a number one priority, he stresses. This is the only way we would be able to defend the national interests, create conditions for the modernization of the economy, boost its competitiveness, and improve people's lives.