Foundation for Effective Governance and Financial Times to Host ‘Ukraine: Opportunities and Challenges’ Conference in New York

December Event at Four Seasons Hotel to Address New Economic Landscape in Ukraine

NEW YORK, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Ukrainian Foundation for Effective Governance (FEG), in partnership with the Financial Times, will host “Ukraine: Opportunities and Challenges,” a strategic conference focusing on Ukraine’s economic outlook, evolving business environment, key investment opportunities, and the challenges that need to be overcome for those opportunities to be realized. The event will be held on the morning of Tuesday, December 8, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

Chaired by Chrystia Freeland, the Financial Times’ U.S. Managing Editor, this high-level conference will feature a keynote address by William Taylor, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, along with contributions from the Right Honourable Kim Campbell, Chair of FEG’s International Advisory Board and former Prime Minister of Canada, and many leading experts on the country including Ralph Judah, Senior Partner, Monitor Group and Elena Kuznetsova, Senior Manager, McKinsey & Company.

Panels will be presented by Ukrainian business and political leaders including Vladislav Kaskiv, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine on Foreign Investment, Parliament of Ukraine; Maxim Timchenko, Chief Executive Officer, DTEK, a leading Ukrainian energy company; Andriy Sadovyy, Mayor of Lviv, a key city in Western Ukraine; Boris Kolesnikov, Member of the Parliamentary Committee of Economic policy, Parliament of Ukraine; Irina Akimova, Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Committee of Economic policy, Parliament of Ukraine; and Borys Krasnyansky, Managing Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers-Ukraine.

“This conference will address a number of important issues, including the question: is it reasonable to focus on long-term solutions in the current political and economic environment in Ukraine? If we continue to follow short-term goals and address only situational political issues, the country will never be able to move forward. If there is no vision of the economic architecture that we eventually want to attain, it is likely that we will not be able to avoid or at least minimize mistakes in today’s decision-making process,” stated Nataliya Izosimova, Managing Director of the Foundation for Effective Governance. “In all the projects that the Foundation is running, we are trying to maintain a balance between strategy and tactics, with short-term and longer-term perspectives being always practical and end result oriented.”

Discussions will be interactive and highly focused, combining up-to-date information with cutting-edge analysis, and giving attendees insight into possible investment strategies within the wider economic and political context. Topics will include:

• How bright is the outlook for Ukraine as it begins to come out of its economic and financial crisis, and ahead of key presidential elections in 2010?

• What measures need to be taken to improve the business environment and create incentives for international companies to invest?

• Where are the most promising regional investment opportunities?

• Which established industrial and service sectors offer the best returns in the short, medium and long term? What are the most promising new opportunities for investment?

• Taking all of these issues into account, what are the key challenges to be overcome for Ukraine to become a major destination for international investors?

“As Ukraine begins to emerge from the financial crisis, this is an important time to reassess the economic potential of the country and examine how investment opportunities can be realized. This conference will give a clear, objective view of the challenges that need to be tackled for the country to achieve its undoubted potential,” stated Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Managing Editor, Financial Times.

The event will begin with breakfast at 8:30 am and close with a networking lunch at 1:10 pm. Attendees will include U.S. and Ukrainian government officials and regulators, and senior representatives of multilateral institutions, Ukraine-based companies, multinationals, international banks, private equity firms and specialist funds, research groups, NGOs and media. More information is available at www.ftconferences.com/ukraine/agenda.

About The Foundation for Effective Governance: The Foundation for Effective Governance (FEG), an independent public policy institution, was formed in 2007 by Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov. FEG’s main objective is to encourage the development of long-term national economic programs for Ukraine, through the formulation of practical policy solutions to the political, economic and social challenges facing the country. The basic principles governing FEG’s activities are independence, a focus on economic development, openness, and a practice-oriented approach. FEG’s International Advisory Board includes former Prime Minister of Canada Kim Campbell, Chair; former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee; and Gyorgy Suranyi, former president of the National Bank of Hungary. More information on FEG is available at www.feg.org.ua/en.

About the Financial Times: The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news organisations, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing extensive news, comment and analysis, the newspaper is printed at 23 print sites across the globe, has a daily circulation of 412,854 (ABC figures, October 2009) and a readership of 1.3 million people worldwide. FT.com is the definitive home for business intelligence on the web, providing an essential source of news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community. FT.com attracts 11.4 million unique users, generating 83.2 million page views (ABCe figures, March 2009) and now has over 1.6 million registered users.

SOURCE Foundation for Effective Governance