On June 21-22, 2022 the Global Economic Impact Forum on Ukraine was held in Istanbul, Turkiye. The Forum was aimed to find new areas for cooperation needed to resolve the challenges faced by Ukraine and the whole global community due to Russia’s war against Ukraine, and to generate ideas needed to improve the current state of the things. During the Forum speakers highlighted that agriculture is one of the main industries of the Ukraine’s economy even in the current war time, and it will be the main driver of its recovery after the war ends.

The event was organized by the International Trade Council, with government partners from Ukraine and US-Ukraine Business Council. Event hosts counted over 700 participants including representatives from the business and industry chambers and associations, which jointly represent more than 90% of the Ukrainian business community.

Among the Ukrainian top speakers at the forum were Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine – Trade Representative of Ukraine, Kostiantyn Koshelenko, Deputy Minister for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalization, who joined online, and Dmytro Natalukha, Chairman of the Economic Affairs Parliamentary Committee, Member of Parliament of Ukraine; Halyna Yanchenko, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine and Secretary of the National Investment Council of Ukraine and Yelyzaveta Yasko, Head of Interparliamentary Cooperation, Bilateral and Multilateral Relations Committee on Foreign Affairs & Interparliamentary Cooperation, Member of Parliament of Ukraine.

There were also participants from the top level of international governments, including Montenegro, Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Canada as well as international business associations who expressed solidarity with Ukraine and support to our people.

This intergovernmental event will hopefully result on bringing together high-level political, public sector, and business leaders from across the globe to look at rebuilding Ukraine, generate investment and trade opportunities, address the challenges to regional and global supply chains, and work to ensure economic continuity for Ukraine and its trade partners through new cooperation channels, agreements and startups.

In particular, the event guests were introduced to the most important upcoming infrastructure opportunities, and how international partners can contribute towards the rebuilding of a new Ukraine, and a shared future of economic prosperity. The key takeaways on agriculture development would help industry members to shape business strategy for the recovery plans:

Agriculture will boost its value in the national GDP. The industry development will become the economic locomotive for Ukraine’s recovery and beyond and will promote conditions for economic growth and competition development after considering opportunity to explore new ways of work. Those investors who are ready to risk now will benefit from the additional advantages of being the first to take their niche. The role highlighted for Ukraine is not just a breadbasket, but a supermarket of the world

Food processing will improve agriculture productivity. There is plenty of agricultural raw materials in Ukraine. But for some reason, instead of producing products with added value, at least for our own needs, we exported almost everything. With the disruption of trade chains and the significant increase in the price of exports of goods from Ukraine, the processing industry takes on new importance including increase of the economic opportunities.

Production of liquid biofuel will increase energy independence. Ukraine has the resources needed to grow biofuels – primarily, corn and canola. If to count all the technical oil crops that Ukraine exports and that are used in other countries for the production of biofuel, it can amount to about 2 million tons of fuel per year. Such forecast might be of special interest both - for the Ukraine farmers and investors.

Business reputation as the base of business for generations to come, and importance of choosing the right partners with the right values - in particular those who withdraw from Russia as the as the example of the ethical and reputational business approach.

These conclusions are already correlated with the vision of the major foreign investors regarding their presence in Ukraine. As of the biggest international agriculture company present in Ukraine for a few decades, Corteva Agriscience adopted resilience against adverse events and continues being focused on its long-term objectives. Commitment demonstrated by the local Corteva team that employs almost 500 Ukrainians shows that strong results can be achieved when you’re able to rally people with right values around a common cause.  Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukrainian farmers, and despite the disruption of the war, Corteva employees have risen to the challenge of supplying farmers with the high-quality seed and crop protection products they need. Following local team’s incredible courage, company’s leadership demonstrated the same determination and long-term vision to stay the course accepting the unavoidability of the volatility in global equity markets.

Confidence in the future is supported by belief in the values that the company follows – Corteva’s priorities remain the safety of our employees and global food security. Since the onset of the war, we have taken all possible actions to support and protect our Ukrainian colleagues and their families, our customers, and the communities in which we operate, including through direct and indirect aid to address the immediate humanitarian needs. And also, as the main commitment to its values, Corteva being just one of few international companies operating in Ukraine announced its decision to withdraw from Russia. Ending production and business activities in aggressor country is a process, and the company is committed to ensuring a compliant exit respecting applicable laws as well as our company values. At the same time, the company consider expanding production in Ukraine, and this clearly demonstrates our vision to stay side by side to Ukrainian farmers and entire Ukrainian nation together through the most challenging times and celebrate the victory together.