Azarov in D.C. for economic talks (04/20/03)

Azarov in D.C. for economic talks

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mykola Azarov came here on April 9-12 for some belated talks with U.S. officials and representatives of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and he indicated that for Ukraine there were some good results.

Mr. Azarov was scheduled to head an official economic delegation to Washington in late January, but an illness forced him to stay behind and turn over the leadership of that group to Minister of the Economy Valerii Khoroshkovskyi, who was in this delegation as well.

During a news conference on April 10, Mr. Azarov said that following his meetings at the Treasury Department, U.S. officials assured Ukraine that the United States would lift its sanctions against Ukraine imposed in line with the decision by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) in December 2002.

A number of countries followed the FATF lead in an effort to pressure Ukraine to institute a more effective monitoring system to combat money laundering. FATF rescinded its recommendation in mid-February after Ukraine upgraded its money-laundering laws, but Ukraine remains on the international blacklist until these laws are fully implemented.

Mr. Azarov also received assurances from the International Monetary Fund that it will send a mission to Ukraine in June to discuss a new loan program for Ukraine that will help it service an estimated $3 billion in debt that is coming due over the next two years.

Mr. Azarov said that in the bilateral talks with U.S. officials, some problem areas were discussed, including the export of Ukrainian steel to the United States and the U.S. export of poultry to Ukraine. Both sides agreed that a solution could be found through a bilateral commission they set up for that purpose, he said. U.S. and Ukrainian officials also discussed some of the problems American investors are experiencing in Ukraine and Ukraine's grain export policy.

With a growing economy, Ukraine needs to find new markets for its exports, and the United States can be helpful in this, he said.

Asked about any plans by Ukraine to participate in the post-war rebuilding of Iraq, Mr. Azarov said he discussed this possibility with U.S. officials and had put some Ukrainian proposals on the table.

"We do not expect any special treatment in this," he said. "We can participate on an equal footing."

Mr. Azarov said that his government intends to introduce a tax amnesty in 2004 in an effort to lure money held by Ukrainians in foreign banks back into Ukraine. He stressed that this amnesty would not apply to ill-gotten gains from the illegal sale of arms and narcotics.

He said Ukraine is politically and economically stable, and is a good place for foreign investors. It is not perfect and still has many problems, he added, but it continues to build its democracy, not without the help of the political opposition. Without a majority in the Verkhovna Rada, the government has to work with the opposition in order to get through any of its programs, he said.

Mr. Azarov's news conference was conducted in Russian at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, following his meetings there with Anders Aslund and other specialists on the Ukrainian economy.

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