Consul General Tarasiuk: Texas has tremendous business potential for Ukraine

The state of Texas has enormous potential for cooperation with the Ukrainian business in energy, space industry, medicine, and IT.

"The GDP of Houston alone, with a population of about 7 million, is $516 billion a year. The city ranks 27th among all the world economies. Texas as a state is practically the 9th largest economy in the world. Therefore, the potential is tremendous," Vitalii Tarasiuk, Consul General of Ukraine in Houston, Texas, told Ukrinform in an exclusive comment after an online meeting with representatives of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC).

Texas, with $2 trillion in GDP (2021), is the second most economically developed state in the United States, after California. However, it has much more attractive conditions for business, including in terms of tax policy and population growth, which makes it more promising. This is also confirmed by the trend of "flow" of large and small companies from California to Texas, which continues to this day.

As for the prospects for Ukrainian business, Tarasiuk considers that the most interesting areas are energy, including non-conventional energy sources; space industry; medical and scientific-medical sector; IT industry.

"Texas is very promising for the development of energy cooperation with Ukraine, and not only in oil and gas, including LNG, which is also very interesting for us but also in new energy sources such as hydrogen," said the diplomat.

He stressed that Texas is already at the forefront of the energy sector and strives to retain that status. Therefore, they continue to invest heavily in the latest developments, in particular, hydrogen energy. At the same time, Ukraine is currently one of the most promising European countries in this field.

"The EU identified in its energy strategy until 2050 that it sees Ukraine as one of the key countries to produce and export hydrogen for Europe. Since Houston is also very active in this area, the possibility of cooperation here is enormous," said the Consul General.

The space industry is another promising area that may be of interest to Ukrainian business in Texas, and in particular in Houston as the largest city in the state.

"Houston is home to the huge Johnson Space Center, which is not only a flight control center but also an astronaut training facility for preparation for future missions, including to the Moon," Tarasiuk said.

He noted that, for example, NASA currently has about 14,000 open patents, creating ample opportunities for private companies interested in this field. According to the diplomat, current trends indicate that many private businesses join space exploration projects, including Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, and hundreds of small companies. Most of them also have offices in Texas.

In addition, Axiom Space is currently working on a major project to build the world's first private space station. "Such examples significantly expand the opportunities for space cooperation for Ukraine – not only with NASA but also with large private companies. We have capacities and experience in space for such partnership," Tarasiuk said.

Another promising area is medicine.

"There is a huge TMC medical center, which employs more than 106,000 people in Houston alone. It is not just a complex of hospitals where people are treated, it is also a large medicine research center. In fact, it is a city within a city," said the Ukrainian diplomat.

TMC is currently building a new innovation center, which is planned to be joined by five leading universities in Texas. "For our companies, this can also be a significant field for cooperation," he noted.

All three areas – energy, space, and medicine – have interesting prospects for Ukrainian companies. However, they are all united by another separate area – information technology, the diplomat said. Tarasiuk stressed that Ukraine has ample opportunities, experience, and good professionals in this field.

He noted that the new Consulate General of Ukraine in Houston is ready to help Ukrainian companies establish ties in Texas and other southern states.

"We can become a window through which the contacts will be established with local businesses and directly with the sector of interest. We are here for this, and this is our main goal. We are ready to help everyone who applies," Tarasiuk said.

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