President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 20 met with representatives of several Ukrainian business associations.
In a large meeting hall at the Parkovy exhibition center in central Kyiv, Zelensky tried to persuade a room of several hundred business owners and top managers that his administration is serious about making their lives easier and their pockets fuller.
“For you, the state should be a service provider, not a competitor,” Zelensky said, getting moderate applause.
For most people in the room, little was new about the event: It followed many similar meetings held by Zelensky’s predecessor, President Petro Poroshenko.
They all followed one scenario: Poroshenko opened with a lengthy speech about the investment climate and his latest achievements, then took questions from the business owners. Occasionally, he would start arguing with them.
Zelensky’s debut was similar in form. But because he was a newcomer, the meeting carried a livelier mood, with mixed attitudes that ranged from excitement to skepticism.
Zelensky came with a present: That day, he canceled 161 decrees of previous presidents, many of which imposed regulations on businesses. Most of them were issued by Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yanukovych, but several belonged to the first President Leonid Kravchuk.
Change of mood
Zelensky entered the meeting hall on time. As he rushed to the stage, almost invisible behind his bodyguards, the audience stood up.
“Why are you all standing?” he asked with a chuckle, trying to set a lighter mood for the event.
That didn’t come easy.
The room had reasons to be wary of Zelensky. Although a celebrity for nearly two decades, he is a newcomer to politics, and so unfamiliar to most people in the room. He has business ties to oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who is infamous for his unscrupulous practices. Kolomoisky’s level of influence on Zelensky is unknown.
It didn’t help that early in the election campaign, Zelensky said that Ukraine should review the conditions of cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine’s biggest lender.
Not surprisingly, Zelensky’s opening speech got a moderate reception. Several jokes fell flat, and promises got weak applause. At one point, he had to pause and remind the audience: “Here, do applaud.”
It changed for the better when he was done with his brief opening remarks.
During the remarks, Zelensky checked all the boxes: he promised to end smuggling and customs corruption, stop the law enforcement pressure on business, reform taxation, and more.
In one of his most ambitious promises of the meeting, he said Ukraine would be in the top 10 of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rating within three or four years. Ukraine is currently 71st among the 190 nations in the rating.
Anna Derevyanko, head of the European Business Association, was there to softly bring Zelensky back to earth.
“We would like to hear not just goals, but concrete plans on how you’re planning to reach them,” she said. “People will believe you when they see you doing something.”
“I agree with you,” Zelensky replied.
Zelensky’s humor, a habit from 20 years in comedy, was helpful to warm the room to him.
During the off-the-record part, according to people present, he half-jokingly roasted the representative of ArcelorMittal plant in Zelensky’s native city of Kryviy Rih, asking him about the ecology situation in the city.
He then playfully offered Lenna Koszarny of Horizon Capital to join the Security Service of Ukraine and help fight smugglers. She pointed out that she is not a Ukrainian citizen.
“I gave the citizenship to this one guy recently,” Zelensky said, referring to politician Mikheil Saakashvili. “I can take it away from him and give it to you.”
Zelensky spoke only Ukrainian throughout the whole event, although many questions came in Russian and one in English. It was a notable change from his earlier appearances — like the one at IT Forum in Kyiv in May, where he relied on his native Russian.
“Six months ago, I decided to invest in Ukraine my most valuable resource: my time,” he said, referring to the moment he announced he was running for the presidency. “Please, do as I did: invest in Ukraine.”
Donbas and oligarchs
Zelensky called on the business owners to invest in the post-war reconstruction of Donbas, which he said will cost an estimated Hr 300 billion ($11.4 billion). In September, there will be an investment forum focusing on Donbas, he said.
He said he talked about it with Ukraine’s three top oligarchs: Rinat Akhmetov, Victor Pinchuk, and Kolomoisky.
“Ukraine gave them a lot,” he said. “They need to be giving back.”
Zelensky spoke little of the results of the meetings with oligarchs, though. He said that Pinchuk would pay for housing for the Ukrainian military, and
Akhmetov, who is a native of the embattled region, would invest in the roads and buy ambulances for local hospitals.
On his business partner Kolomoisky, he was more secretive — and playful.
“Kolomoisky will be investing a lot in the infrastructure in Donbas,” Zelensky said, persuasively, only to finish jokingly: “But he doesn’t know it yet.”
