The 15th meeting of the "Banks" Working Group of the Ukrainian-German High-Level Group on Economic Cooperation (hereinafter – the meeting), co-chaired by Mr Oleksandr Pysaruk, First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, and Mr Per Fischer, Senior Managing Director and Head of Financial Institutions at Commerzbank AG, was held in Frankfurt am Main on September 26, 2014.
As usual, both representatives from the National Bank of Ukraine and Ukrainian banks and representatives from German financial institutions, banks and their representative offices in Ukraine participated in the meeting. This very meeting means important additional support for Ukrainians in these tough times. The German Government supports Ukraine at the international political arena, as well as provides practical project assistance. This, among other things, includes providing medical treatment for Ukrainian servicemen and funding worth €500 million to finance the restoration of Donbas infrastructure from the EU fund.
In his opening speech to the meeting, Oleksandr Pysaruk thanked the German Government and financial institutions for supporting Ukraine in its aspirations to build a democratic European state. He emphasized that the Ukrainian people prove every day that they deserve to live under European values, saying that the Government of Ukraine has already embarked on implementing a wide range of political and economic reforms, which, among other things, include crackdown on corruption, deregulation of business, judicial reform, reform of law enforcement bodies, stabilization and efficiency of the banking system of Ukraine.
"We regard a sufficient capitalization level, corporate governance, risk management and the resilience of the banking system as benchmarks for banking sector reforms," noted Oleksandr Pysaruk.
He added that the investment potential of Ukraine is extremely high and expressed his hope for a fast revival of the country's economy and a marked improvement in the investment climate following the successful implementation of reforms: "Today the IMF, the EU, and the USA support Ukraine in its efforts to undertake reforms. In spite of the fact that Ukraine's economy is going through turbulent times, we will be able to renovate the economy and create an advanced country where investors will have a positive experience and investments will be associated with low risks".
In its turn, the German side welcomed Ukraine's aspirations to join the united European family and appreciated Ukrainian central bank's efforts to undertake compressive financial sector reforms aimed at ensuring the smooth functioning of the Ukrainian banking sector.
In the course of the meeting, the participants held constructive discussions over the prospects of implementing future joint Ukrainian-German projects. The sides concurred that meetings in this format serve as a platform for strengthening bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Germany. Given present-day challenges, a well-established format of cooperation needs to be streamlined and propelled to the next stage.
For reference
The “Banks” Working Group refers to a specialized group on banking and financial issues. It has been operating since 1992. There have been 14 meetings over this period, by rotation in Ukraine and in Germany. The meetings are held by the National Bank of Ukraine jointly with Commerzbank AG, which is designated as the responsible representative on the side of the German government in the “Banks” Working Group. The main purpose of these meetings is to share experience on topical issues for both countries and discuss avenues for expanding future cooperation.