Japanese envoy: JETRO’s office in Kyiv to facilitate business cooperation between two countries
The opening of an office of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Kyiv will facilitate business cooperation between the two countries and unlock the possibility of implementing many projects.
The relevant statement was made by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Kuninori Matsuda, who is finishing his diplomatic mission, in an interview with Ukrinform.
According to Matsuda, with the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, Japan provided urgent humanitarian and financial assistance to Ukraine. Later, the country sent non-lethal defense equipment using public funds, and then partly loan guarantees in cooperation with the World Bank. However, in the conditions of a protracted war, the need arose to involve the private sector of Japan in providing assistance to Ukraine.
Matsuda mentioned that JETRO’s office, which is opening soon in Kyiv, would be able to collect information about the current situation in Ukraine and the needs of Ukrainian companies, and provide it to the Japanese side, as well as find partners for Japanese companies on the Ukrainian market to conduct new business.
“I would like to advise all Ukrainian companies interested in doing business with Japan: please contact JETRO. I would also like to ask Japanese companies to support Ukraine’s economic activities despite the war, particularly through trade, investment, or technical cooperation. If you want to engage in economic activities that will be useful for both Ukraine and Japan, please also contact JETRO, and a lot will be possible to implement,” the diplomat noted.
When asked how many Japanese companies are currently interested in the Ukrainian market, the ambassador pointed out that hundreds of companies participating in seminars held by JETRO and other organizations, as well as specific requests, show that the interest is “very high”.
“However, I believe that the Japanese and Ukrainian governments still need to further improve the conditions for encouraging the activities of private companies,” Matsuda said.
In this regard, he recalled that the Convention for the Elimination of Double Taxation had been revised, and the process of revising the Investment Protection Agreement had started.
“Once updated, it will provide greater protection for investments in both countries. We are working on it. In addition, the things we asked the Ukrainian government to implement include, for example, customs service reform. We believe this will have a significant impact, when actual trading and investment activities begin,” Matsuda emphasized.
A reminder that Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated earlier that Ukraine and Japan would strengthen business cooperation by signing an investment protection agreement and opening JETRO’s office in Ukraine.