Arakhamia proposes to expand govt powers to attract large investors

KYIV. Feb 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The current legislation in Ukraine, even after the adoption of the law on “investment nannies,” does not allow attracting large investors, so the Cabinet of Ministers needs to be given additional powers to correct this situation, David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People faction, believes.

“We made such rules: everything seems to be correct and anti-corruption, but then we can’t just add 1 + 1. We have to change, sit down and make some kind of fuses, otherwise it doesn’t work. We see that not a single big (investment) project is raised in Ukraine due to the fact that the rules of the game are not customized for this major player,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

As an example, he cited the loss of Ukraine to Slovakia in attracting Volkswagen, which was one of the reasons for the development of the law on “investment nannies,” as well as the absence of a cartridge plant in Ukraine.

“Dozens of companies come, they say, we will invest our money, but give us an order for three years for cartridges. And we say, go to the ProZorro tender and if you win, there will be an order. And they say that if you have to go to ProZorro, then why build something, I already have some factories abroad. And then we say: ‘zrada’ (betrayal) – there is no cartridge factory,” Arakhamia described the situation.

“Even Ukroboronprom does not want to build a cartridge plant, because it says whether there will be a state order from the Ministry of Defense,” the head of the Servant of the People faction added.

According to him, the competing countries of Ukraine in attracting investors also offer them free land and connection to infrastructure, as well as personal support.

“Like in Turkey: there Erdogan picks up the phone and says that tomorrow they need to register the land, and due to the fact that they are not very democratic, it actually works better for business – they have land in two days,” Arakhamia said.

According to him, in Ukraine, in order to register the land, even if there is a head of the faction, the government, and the prime minister “to run around and call everyone,” it will still take several months, and journalists will also charge them with lobbying.

Among the issues that need to be addressed using new approaches, the head of the Servant of the People named, in particular, the titanium industry.

“There is the United Mining and Chemical Company, which is already running out of ilmenite reserves. We want to sell it, an interested party comes – give reserves for 10-20 years. Then they say, where will we process it? – There was Zaporizhia Titanium and Magnesium Combine, now there is no such a plant. Then we will need to sit down and make some exceptions,” Arakhamia explained.

“We must let the government make the conditions it wants, because the government has an integral overview of what is lacking. Moreover, there is also a social aspect,” the head of the Servant of the People faction summed up.