Belgian Ambassador Jana Zikmundova is new to Ukraine, having started her work in Kyiv in March. But when asked about her personal aim for her time in Ukraine, she stated an ambitious goal: to help a low-cost carrier start up a direct flight between Kyiv and Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union.
Belgian Ambassador Jana Zikmundova is new to Ukraine, having started her work in Kyiv in March. But when asked about her personal aim for her time in Ukraine, she stated an ambitious goal: to help a low-cost carrier start up a direct flight between Kyiv and Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union.
Zikmundova, 55 years old, already knows plenty about links between Ukraine and the EU, having monitored negotiations on the free-trade agreement from 2008 to 2010.
She has worked in various roles for the United Nations and the Belgian Foreign Ministry.
Although she may not yet be fully attuned to its peculiarities, Zikmundova said she has empathy toward the history and mentality of the people here, as she was born in what was then Czechoslovakia in the Soviet Eastern Block.
Below are extracts of an interview that she gave to the Kyiv Post.
Kyiv Post: Could you tell us about your origin?
Jana Zikmundova: I was born in the town of Roudnice on the Elbe, 50 kilometers north of Prague. My father, a musician, came to Belgium in 1968 when normalization [the rolling back of reforms] was in a full swing in Czechoslovakia. If our family had returned to Czechoslovakia we would have been arrested for betraying the motherland.
I studied history at the University of Liège, and in 1984 I passed exams to enter the Belgian diplomatic service. I wanted to do something useful for a democratic country such as Belgium.
I keep going back to the Czech Republic to my hometown Roudnice, and I am happy to observe the development of the economy there and general integration of the Czech Republic into the EU.
KP: Do you think your origin has an influence on your work in Ukraine?
JZ: I understand what the communist period meant for Ukrainians. I learned about the Holodomor [the 1932-1933 famine] from my father, who had a keen conscience and knowledge of the horrors of Stalinism.
So,I understand what the totalitarian period meant for Ukrainians,and this helps me to graspyour history and your mentality.
KP: Where does Belgium want to see Ukraine?
JZ: Belgium would like to see Ukraine integrating very actively into the EU and assimilating the EU’s principles. We hope that it will accelerate with the signature of the association agreement and deep comprehensive free-trade agreement.
KP: What’s Belgium’s attitude toward the trials of the former members of Ukraine’s government, such as Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko?
JZ: The European Union and Belgium are monitoring the trials, but it’s not for us to prejudge the outcome. Belgium is concerned that there could be some political motivation behind the cases.
But we mostly operate in the EU framework. It’s not so much for us to decide [how to react to the trials].
KP: Where do relations between Ukraine and Belgium stand now?
JZ: Bilateral economic relations are evolving in a promising way, with a growth of Belgian exports of 32 percent in 2010. They are considerable, but could be more important if the business climate improves.
So far, the biggest investors are Inbev with a couple of breweries here, and Materialise Ukraine, an Internet technologies company that employs around 300 young Ukrainians. Belgian companies such as Scherder and Reynaers are also strong players.
KP: What are the problems of the Belgium business community here?
JZ: Belgium is a very small country. The successes and problems of the Belgian firms here are very quickly known in Belgium. The major issues [that the Belgian companies have] are with unreliable Ukrainian partners.
There are some problems when business disputes hit the judicial system. The companies are worried that justice will not be done.
Ukraine is also a country of contrasts where one firm’s serious problems can revert to a more positive situation in a matter of weeks, and vice versa.
We see that with the contracts for Euro 2012, for example. Some firms appear to be excluded, then a couple of months later, they are on board.
Many times, the embassy has to step in, and these interventions take a lot of our time.
We have a Belgian business club that meets every two months, where our representatives exchange information and give advice to each other.
KP: There was an issue six years ago when an attaché from the Belgian Embassy, Elisabeth Perleau, tried to smuggle Ukrainian antiques out of the country. Do you know if she has been prosecuted in Belgium?
JZ: That sad page of our relations was turned. I don’t know what happened to her, but I would not wish anyone to have the media attention that she had upon returning home.
Kyiv Post staff writer Katya Grushenko can be reached at [email protected].
