The Lugano Business Forum was held in Switzerland to organize Ukrainian-European partnerships

The Lugano Business Forum was held in Switzerland to organize Ukrainian-European partnerships

The event brought together 100 speakers and over 800 participants, becoming a powerful B2B & B2G network platform for discussing the development of Ukraine

On May 11-12, 2023, an international Ukrainian-Swiss forum was held in Lugano, Switzerland, which brought together businesses, organizations, and the government of Ukraine, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, UAE, USA, and other countries. The organizers of the forum were the Blockchain Association of Ukraine with founder Mykhailo Chobanyan, Ukrainian-Swiss Business Association and the Swiss Federation of Small and Medium Business SGV-USAM with the support of the Lugano City Hall and the Embassy of Ukraine in Switzerland.

Ukrainian business representatives had the opportunity to meet with Swiss and European businessmen and discuss real cases of the development of the Ukrainian economy at present and in the post-war period. In particular, the forum included a presentation of general macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine's development forecasts and a vision from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO to support Swiss companies planning to enter the Ukrainian market as part of the development of post-war Ukraine.

In particular, more than 100 speakers with strong expertise in energy technologies, manufacturing, FoodTech, Digital, FinTech, HealthTech & Biotech, construction, venture capital and investments united with the great goal of not just restoring, but building a strong, economically prosperous and independent Ukraine. Among the main points of the forum, the speakers singled out the shift of focus of Ukraine from a raw material country to a country with a transition economy.

"We managed to organize one of the largest Ukrainian forums in Europe, the main purpose of which was to gather Ukrainian and European businessmen and show them the prospects of joint profitable business. The Swiss business community knows little about Ukraine and does not have information beyond the big headlines about wars. Our goal was to provide real economic indicators, numbers and opportunities, to focus on the recovery of Ukraine, we also talked about repatriations and recovery funds and the trends of our time," emphasizes Mykhailo Chobanyan, co-organizer of the Lugano Business Forum and president of the Blockchain Association of Ukraine.

Chobanyan also noted that the Ukrainian government predicts economic growth in the post-war period and an increase in GDP of at least 2%, which will allow Ukraine to become a place for the development of long-term European projects with 30-40% per year and a short logistics route. For this, he noted, it is worth working with the main problem identified by the Europeans — information and analytics.

"One of the most important achievements of the Lugano Business Forum was the presentation of the current developments of the Swiss government regarding the legislative regulation of issues related to the financing of reconstruction projects and state guarantees of private investment in Ukraine. This gave Forum participants a unique opportunity to understand the real situation and adjust their strategies regarding timing and necessary preparatory actions," said Dmytro Sidenko, President of the Ukrainian-Swiss Business Association, one of the co-organizers of the Lugano Business Forum.

At the forum, European business was able to highlight the attractiveness of the Ukrainian economic landscape and obtain detailed and step-by-step solutions for specific projects and partnerships, as well as systematize and find solutions for obtaining up-to-date information necessary for the European environment to make further decisions.

Thus, the forum discussed the need to invest in Ukraine in projects of deep processing in the agricultural sector (among other things in the west of Ukraine), IT development, in particular in the field of defense tech, and the restoration of the energy sector already now, without waiting for an increase in logistics and raw material costs in the post-war period.

Among the challenges, the speakers discussed the three most important issues — lack of investment and funding opportunities, brain drain and talent migration, as well as infrastructure and logistics issues.

Alfred F. Praus (Vienna), a member of the Board of the International Council of Business Associations and Chambers in Ukraine, noted that the main task of foreign investors in relation to Ukraine is to overcome opposition and uncertainty regarding private capital, and on the part of the Ukrainian business community, it is important to work on security guarantees, first of all financial turn and show real working cases of such partnerships.

"Currently, we have more than 250 competitive projects from Ukraine, for which foreign investors have ready proposals. However, the biggest issue in this is agreements with state bodies and regional and local self-government bodies to obtain the best cooperation framework and the ability to provide narrow specific solutions for highly specialized business investors. My message as a speaker is that Ukraine needs not only investments, but also investments and developed financing measures already now. But Ukrainians should also be ready to implement projects after the discussions," Praus noted.

Anna Derevyanko, Executive Director of the European Business Association, also noted in her message that Ukrainians should be patient in entering new markets and not forget that no one abroad has special, more favorable conditions for Ukraine. At the same time, Derevyanko noted that step by step foreign exporters and investors are learning more about Ukraine and its greatest value — social creative capital, whose business works even during the war.

"When communicating with foreign companies, I note their surprise that we have profitable companies even during the war, despite the drop in volumes. And I tend to believe that it is necessary to talk more about this and prepare a platform for these potential foreign investors or partners to enter Ukraine. They should hear about our state and receive quality information that will instill confidence in them, because they will be the key asset of Ukraine's recovery. Therefore, it is important for me to remember the house and the order in it, to work with the regulatory climate, to prepare the investment field as much as possible and make it high-quality and attractive, and to give the maximum green light to those companies that are already working in Ukraine. So that they feel confident comfort in the market of Ukraine and at the same time can take care of economic diplomacy abroad, when we represent our country there, it is worth it for Ukrainians to be proud of it," concluded Anna Derevyanko.

Democratization of access, comprehensive access to development and education, and charity — this is exactly what Victoria Tigipko, founder and managing partner of TA Ventures, founder of WTech Global and president of IClub Global, noted in her speech, talking about diversification of earned funds and trends of the next 5-10 years.

Tigipko also noted that for the powerful recovery of Ukraine, it is first of all necessary to enlist the support of the state, which is able to accelerate the formation of the green corridor and organize it so that there is no need to change the norms in accordance with each new project.

"International organizations are ready to invest in Ukrainian products and production under the conditions of transparency in the use of funds and guarantee of investment rights from the state. There are prospects of a transition in the world to Ukrainian businesses and suppliers for construction, both by Ukrainian companies and foreign ones — and we should engage the examples of market leaders and not complicate things, but organize and do it already, without waiting for permits or the end of the war," added Victoria Tigipko .

Mykhailo Kukhar, senior economist of Ukraine Economic Outlook and a member of the economic staff of the Government of Ukraine, notes that it is important for business to see investment figures on the monitor and understand macroeconomic forecasts and new plans and financial infusions. Every business should be aware that this is about increasing the cash flow of Ukraine and increasing the cash flow of all Ukrainian companies, and this is not just talk of politicians about enrichment, but serious calculations from serious European sources.

"In the last 30 years after the war, no country was rebuilt with its own money - Iraq was rebuilt by the United States, because there was a desert there after the battles, and all of Yugoslavia was rebuilt by the European Union after the war. It also became clear about Ukraine last year, and it was clear that we actually cannot spend a single penny from our budget and at the same time we must attract funds that will allow us to rebuild Ukraine and about which we will be able to report transparently. These are huge sums, but I really hope that at least half will go to this 300 billion seized Russian funds from their Central Bank and 200 billion seized corporate Russian money. It is clear that there will be courts there and they will somehow go according to the party, but I believe that at least 1.5 million of them are already ours for all the crimes committed," noted Mykhailo Kukhar.

In addition to analytical meetings, real projects designed to contribute to the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine were also presented at the forum. For example, Konstantin Pisarenko first introduced the FreedomCode project, a groundbreaking application that uses blockchain and AI to create a seamless ecosystem for social impact. In a world where one in four aid dollars does not reach its recipients, FreedomCode promises a radical solution. By bringing together donors, volunteers and non-governmental organizations, FreedomCode facilitates unprecedented collaboration and transparency, ensuring that aid reaches where it is needed most. Having successfully completed a $200K angel round, FreedomCode is now in the pre-seed stage, aiming to complete development and launch of the app in Ukraine and partner countries, including Switzerland, which demonstrated strong local support at the conference.

"The main task of the forum was to shed light on the issue of receiving feedback from foreign businesses, to obtain up-to-date data on the barriers to providing positive solutions for the benefit of Ukraine, and to single out attractive industries and companies for receiving investments. That is why we do not plan to limit ourselves to this year's forum and will continue to hold it on a regular basis and will announce the dates of the next Forum in 2024 in a month," concluded Dmytro Sidenko, President of the Ukrainian-Swiss Business Association, one of the co-organizers of the Lugano Business Forum and Mykhailo Chobanyan, co-organizer of the Lugano Business Forum and president of the Blockchain Association of Ukraine.