Page 9 - Aruba Today
P. 9
WORLD NEWS 9
Thursday 29 October 2015
Ukraine faces years of
dependence on Western aid
JAMES ELLINGWORTH Associated Press, Pritzker ger any direct flights be- U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker presents books to
Associated Press called the U.S. administra- tween the two countries. children in a Jewish school in the Ukrainian town of Bila Tserkva,
VELYKI PRYTSKY, Ukraine tion’s decision to give the Despite a frantic schedule where some of her distant relatives once lived in Ukraine,
(AP) — Looking on from her loan guarantee “a vote of of trade missions from the Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015.
vegetable patch at the confidence.” She said the Ukrainian government, ex-
motorcade of U.S. Secre- Ukrainian government’s ports to the U.S. and EU are Associated Press
tary of Commerce Penny progress on reforms over falling too, with increased
Pritzker, Ukrainian villager the last six to nine months Chinese investment in ag- Europe and into the Middle Ukraine’s other bondhold-
Olha Voloshchenko says was “extraordinary.” riculture a rare bright spot. East and North Africa.” ers agreed to do this year
she’d seen the lady on the For Pritzker, her visit mixed Instead of restoring Russian Also on the horizon is the to help the country avoid
TVnews the night before, old-fashioned commercial trade to pre-conflict levels, repayment of a $3 billion default.
but “then the lights went diplomacy — bringing a the goal is an economy debt to Russia dating from If Ukraine fails to pay the
off at our place.” group of U.S. business ex- close to that of neighbor- the final days of the last loan at the end of the year,
The U.S. hopes agriculture ecutives along — and the ing Poland, with greater pro-Russian Ukrainian presi- Russia could try to obstruct
in places like this dilapidat- personal. Until the late 19th European and global inte- dent, Viktor Yanukovych. future aid to Ukraine from
ed village will help rebuild century, long before the gration, says Finance Minis- Russia has refused to write the IMF, of which it is a
Ukraine’s shattered econ- family built the Hyatt brand ter Natalie Jaresko. off a part of the loan, as member.q
omy as it severs its centu- into a global hotel chain, “I don’t think those levels
ries-old trade relations with the Pritzkers lived south of of trade with Russia will
Russia and tries to integrate Kiev and took their name ever come to be again,”
with the West. from Voloshchenko’s vil- she says. “We are building
The economic reality, how- lage of Velyki Prytsky. our exports into Asia, into
ever, suggests that dream During her stay in Ukraine
is a long way off. A lack she would have gotten a
of jobs often drives young taste of the challenges fac-
people away from the ru- ing Ukraine, whose econo-
ral areas that are meant my is expected to shrink by
to drive the agricultural about a tenth this year.
renaissance. Outages are Though the conflict in the
common as the electricity rebel-held east has qui-
grid crumbles from a lack etened down in recent
of investment and bribery is months, much of the coun-
still rampant. try’s industrial heartland
It is clear Ukraine will de- is either in the hands of
pend on U.S. and Euro- Russia-backed rebel or has
pean financial support for seen its supply chains dis-
years to come. rupted. An anti-corruption
Pritzker’s visit coincided push has yet to claim any
with the U.S. announce- prominent scalps and Sun-
ment that it would give day’s regional elections
Ukraine another $1 billion saw the resurgence of re-
in loan guarantees on con- gional oligarchs that often
dition the country makes challenge the government
a series of reforms. That in Kiev.
comes on top of a $17.5 Meanwhile, trade with Rus-
billion aid program from sia, which has long been
the International Monetary the country’s biggest com-
Fund. mercial partner, is in freefall
The U.S. official was in as political relations soured
Ukraine to help the govern- over the conflict.
ment push through judicial Goods exports to Russia in
and anti-corruption mea- January-August this year
sures that would, hope- were less than half what
fully, attract the investment they were a year earlier,
needed to wean the coun- and replacing that lost
try off Western aid. trade will be hard. Since
In an interview with The Sunday, there are no lon-
