>> With a surface of 603,700 km² the Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe. The number of inhabitants amounts to 48.4 millions and is only a little lower than the one of France or Italy.  The levels of education and the rate of college graduates are very high, as in the other countries in which we exercise our business activities. Besides Russia, Germany, Italy and Turkey are the most important trade partners of the country.

Shortly after independence in 1991, the Ukrainian Government liberalized most prices and erected a legal framework for privatization, but widespread resistance to reform within the government and the legislature soon stalled reform efforts and led to some backtracking. Output by 1999 had fallen to less than 40 percent of the 1991 level. Loose monetary policies pushed inflation to hyperinflationary levels in 1993. The serious reform process commenced in 2000 could not only stop this development, it led to a substantial economic growth in the subsequent years. The adjustment to common international legal rules (the legal framework for private ownership of land by foreign investors passed into law in 2004) led to a steadily rising number of foreign direct investments.

Attractive tax rates connected with the necessary legal security form the basis for a further positive development of the country. The Ukraine introduced a flat personal income tax rate of 13% in 2004 and reduced the corporate profit tax to 25%.

Finally it has to be said that the Ukraine, because of its relatedness to the entire market of the CIS member states and the free trade agreement with them, as well as because of its proximity to the new member states of the European Union, is a market with a particularly high potential for international investors.