President: I invite big American business to build infrastructure in Ukraine

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy expects a significant increase in investment and trade cooperation between Ukraine and the US. He said this after negotiations with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Kyiv.

“We are interested in enhancing the development of the Ukrainian railway industry together with the American party. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Ukrzaliznytsia have already started negotiations for the purchase of a new batch of American-made locomotives,” the Head of State said in a statement to the media.

The President invited big American business to participate in projects of road construction and Ukrainian natural gas and oil extraction.

“We expect that US companies will bid for the development of the Black Sea shelf,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.

The President also raised the issue of Washington abolishing customs duties on steel imports from Ukraine in the amount of 25%.

“This is a sensitive issue for our metallurgical exports, so we are hopeful that this duty will be abolished for Ukraine,” the President said.

According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine seeks to build effective cooperation with the International Finance Corporation, in particular in the implementation of joint cases in various fields.

“I am confident that 2020 will be the year when we will significantly increase investment and trade cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” the President stressed.

He thanked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the United States for their full support and assistance to Ukraine, as well as for fruitful negotiations.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted that the work of the US-Ukraine Strategic Partnership Commission had been resumed.

He noted that the United States would continue to provide investment support to Ukraine, and supported the IMF’s recommendations.