Despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, we can enjoy stable economic relations with our neighbour – Ukraine. This is confirmed by great data on Polish-Ukrainian trade, which grew in 2020; however, the potential of economic cooperation between Poland and Ukraine based on the win-win principle is still not fully exploited. Thus, it is in our joint interest to foster the development of joint economic, investment and infrastructure initiatives related to our region and the integration of Ukraine into the EU legal mechanisms. Ukraine is particularly important for Poland due to the fact that Ukrainian citizens became one of the drivers of the Polish labour market, as the most frequently employed foreigners in Poland. In the last three years we have been seeing an upward trend in employment contracts, which corresponds to the growing number of Ukrainian citizens in the Polish social security system

- said Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development, Labour and Technology.

The Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksij Reznikov expressed his gratitude for Polish support in providing Ukraine with access to the COVID-19 vaccine distribution system in the European Union,  adding that stronger economic ties between Ukraine and Poland are a source of satisfaction.

He also reported on the Government of Ukraine's approval of the Concept for Economic Development of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and ongoing work on a comprehensive strategy for the region, which includes legal and financial incentives for foreign investment. The Ukrainian deputy prime minister pointed out that the Ukrainian side counts on these plans as an opportunity to boost the presence of Polish companies in the eastern part of the country, inviting Prime Minister Gowin for the upcoming meeting of the Polish-Ukrainian Commission for Economic Cooperation in Kyiv in March 2021.

Polish-Ukrainian economic cooperation

Ukraine is Poland's second main economic partner in eastern markets – following Russia – ranking 16th in terms of trade turnover and 14th in exports;
The data for the first 11 months of 2020 show that Polish-Ukrainian trade turnover grew by 1.2% compared to the same period in 2019 and amounted to 8071.6 million USD. At that time, Polish exports to Ukraine increased by 6.1% and amounted to 5412.7 million USD.

According to the data presented by Statistics Poland, in 2018 about 17,000 Polish companies participated in the Polish-Ukrainian trade, including 3794 companies importing goods from Ukraine, and 13489 companies exporting their goods to Ukraine.

What is more, nearly 1,200 small and medium-sized enterprises with Polish-Ukrainian capital operate on the Ukrainian market. According to Ukrainian sources, there are about 2,900 companies with Polish capital are registered in Ukraine.

According to NBP data, at the end of 2019, the balance of receivables from Polish direct investments in Ukraine amounted to 352.5 million USD (219.5 million USD at the end of 2018, 122.5 million USD at the end of 2017, 15.1 million USD at the end of 2016, 18.4 million USD at the end of 2015) and Polish investments show an upward trend.

What is more, the data presented by the Central Economic Information Centre for 2020 indicate that there are 15,800 active companies with at least one Ukrainian company or a natural person with Ukrainian citizenship among their shareholders, operating mostly in the transport of goods, construction and finishing works, temporary employment agencies and trade sectors.