This week, namely on June 27 at the EU Summit will be conducted the official signing of the economic part of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, which will open a new page in relations between historical trading partners.
Signing of the economic part of the Agreement (political part was signed on March 21) should contribute to facilitating access of Ukrainian producers to the European market, as well as give impetus to the growth of the whole European economy, so as Ukraine has a huge potential.
Ukraine after the signing of the economic association will achieve access to the large European market with its $ 16 trillion trade turnover per year. Thus, Ukraine will have new opportunities, but at the same time, it could not freely sell all their products – as they must meet the technical and sanitary requirements of the EU. But if to invest in technology and make a brand new product – the chance to enter the European market will be incredibly high. More important is that Ukrainian authorities seem to be aware that they have no chance for error and will fight for the development of their own state, and not their own pockets.
At the same time, the agreement with the EU will help the Ukrainian leaders to deal with their overwhelming problems – corruption, poor judicial system and administrative barriers to doing business that will bring Ukraine’s economy out of the shadow that could double the their budget income and would attract large European and Russian business in promising Ukrainian market.
Many investors from the Middle East and Southeast Asia are already eager to Ukraine aiming to assess potentially promising areas for further cooperation and investment for business development in this country.
But as we see, not everyone is satisfied with economic development of Ukraine. Russia is a strategic partner of the European Union and Ukraine, but when it was necessary to contribute to the development of its partners, Ukraine was threatened by closure of trade borders, explaining that a flow of substandard products could rush from Ukraine after the creation of the Free Trade Area with the EU.
Russian argument was that low-cost, poor-quality European goods will be imported to Ukraine, remarked as Ukrainian product and further exported to the Russian Federation, but the gentlemen from trade and economic departments of Russia forgot that, the bulk quality of Ukrainian and European goods is usually far ahead Russian. Besides, Ukraine, under the terms of the Association Agreement have to do a tremendous job of improving certification and quality standards of its products, including dairy and confectionery, which quality is under control of Russian Federal Service for Consumers Rights Protection and Human Well-being.
However, could financial stability and welfare of Ukraine adversely affect Russia? The answer is obvious, Russia will only benefit: improved cooperation in strategic areas, for Russians would be easier to do business in Ukraine and in the future to open foreign markets, including European, Ukraine will be able to fully comply with their obligations under the gas contracts, which directly reflect on welfare of ordinary Russians.
After all, Ukraine has a huge potential for development and areas for Russian private investment also varied: the automotive industry, agriculture, and information technologies.
Keep in mind great prospects for Russian-Ukrainian cooperation in the field of aircraft and rocket engineering which suffer primarily from the prolonged conflict, and there are no benefits for the Russians and the Ukrainians.
Naturally, in the context of economic prosperity, much depends on the Ukrainians themselves, if each of them will look at where to earn money and pay taxes at the same time, Ukraine may become prosperous “Eastern European tiger” that only at the positive side could affect Russian-Ukrainian relations.