On March 12, 2019, seminar on “State and foreign direct investment” for representatives of territorial communities of the region was held. The event was organized by Dnipropetrovsk Center for Local Self-Government Development” (LGDC). The main speakers of the seminar were Oleksii Ivanchenko, regional representative of UkraineInvest office in Eastern Ukraine, Alim Molodan, deputy director of the Dnepropetrovsk Investment Agency (DIA) and Ihor Mamonov, Advisor for Regional Development LGDC.
Ihor Mamonov drew attention to the need of forming development projects for communities. It is necessary for their inclusion in the regional strategy of the Dnipropetrovsk region for 2021-2027. These projects should be in the field of infrastructure. This will allow increase the investment attractiveness of communities. Also, he presented a wide range of possible public sources of financing, including the SRDF (State Regional Development Fund). Ihor Mamonov suggested that communities create associations with communities from the EU countries in order to attract external financing for their own development.
Oleksii Ivanchenko informed about the foreign investors interest in Ukraine and noted: “Today a certain competition for high-quality investment climate between the cities and united territorial communities formed. The main arguments for making decisions about the location of business are high-quality and transparent information of the community about available resources. Investment agencies play a key role in establishing cooperation between potential investors and united territorial communities”.
“In Ukraine, there are only two investment agencies, namely the Dnipropetrovsk Investment Agency (DIA) and Agency for Regional Development Volyn. United territorial communities in the Dnipropetrovsk region have much more opportunities in attracting investors thanks to the work of DIA. Because UkraineInvest office and foreign companies are turning specifically to DIA to search for land or investment objects in the Dnipropetrovsk region”, said Oleksii Ivanchenko.
Dnipropetrovsk Investment Agency (DIA) presented to representatives of united territorial communities information regarding the stages and mechanisms for creating attractive investment territories. Also DIA presented the possibility of creating local preferences by raising public funds for infrastructure development and the types of local preferences that can generate society.
Alim Molodan focused the attention on the ineffectiveness of the united communities’ investment passports: “None of the created passports arrived at the entry points of investors – UkraineInvest and DIA. The timely non-provision of up-to-date investment information from united territorial communities to the regional investment portal and the UkraineInvest database, nullified the effectiveness of the investment passports of the united territorial communities”. In connection with the foregoing, the urgency of creating investment territories and development of local preferences was noted.
