Ukraine more and more clearly indicates Poland as the main partner, not only politically but also economically. There are concepts that assume the actual creation of a common economic organism.

According to Ukrainian data, in 2021, the Polish-Ukrainian trade exchange exceeded USD 10 billion for the first time in history. Thus, Poland took second place on the list of the largest Ukrainian trading partners, second only to China, being one of the leading importers of agricultural production from Ukraine and at the same time one of the largest suppliers of food to our neighbour’s market.

Last year, Polish investments in Ukraine exceeded USD 21 billion for the first time. At the same time, Ukrainian investments in Poland were also growing – in the middle of the year, over 20,000 companies with Ukrainian capital were already operating in Poland, which constituted as much as one-fourth of companies with foreign capital in Poland.

Last year’s task was to enter Ukraine into the group of the ten largest trade partners of Poland within 2-3 years.

In the vision of Yuri Romanenko, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of the Future, one of the most important Ukrainian think-tanks, Ukrainian enterprises transferred to Poland would benefit from a special tax regime enabling them to pay taxes to the Ukrainian budget. Poland’s benefit from such a solution is jobs for the masses of Ukrainian refugees, activation of consumption, the housing market and services supporting the multitudes of well-paid professionals employed in enterprises transferred to Poland.

According to the Ukrainian expert, the best location for this initiative would be Rzeszów and the Subcarpathian region bordering Ukraine.

“Basically, the Ukrainian state should focus today on generating resources for defense, reforming the military-industrial complex and distributing social benefits, as well as on sector coordination, planning and international cooperation”, concludes Romanenko.

In the opinion of Ukrainian experts, a “test of strength” of such large-scale cooperation could be negotiating with the EU and introducing a joint Polish-Ukrainian customs clearance.

Michał Kozak

The author is an economic journalist and a correspondent of the Financial Observer in Ukraine order