21 December 2014

Year end 2014 and NEW YEAR 2015 in Ukraine

The year 2014 has been an eventful year for Ukraine. The Russian invasion of Crimea is still the major problem which unfortunately many western nations appear to have forgotten. The Russian invasion of Eastern Ukraine continues.

Too many media sources continue to report about the 'Ukraine Crisis'. When the facts that should be reported are the 'RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE'.
The Russian President had failed to achieve many of his objectives in Ukraine. But one objective that has been achieved is the destruction of the economy of Ukraine.

Ukraine is suffering. The country needs help from the west. We all hope that 2015 will bring better fortunes for Ukraine.

However, one of the biggest problems that still plagues Ukraine is the disease known as 'corruption'.
Even with a new President and new Government in place, the old habits of corruption remain.

BUT...the only people that can STOP this deep seated corruption in Ukraine is in fact the PEOPLE of Ukraine. If only they would just STOP paying bribes to state officials and other people holding out their hands for bribes, the problem could be tackled.

My message for the people in Ukraine at this year end is ''PLEASE STOP PAYING BRIBES'
A brighter future awaits the country in 2015, if you the people will stop paying bribes to state officials and others. JUST STOP DOING IT.

06 December 2014

Ukraine needs to get serious about Foreign Investors

In these hard times for the country, one would have thought that Ukraine would be welcoming foreign investors with open arms. Oh no.

The BBCU has a long track record of helping foreign companies in Ukraine. Admittedly these are not all multi-million dollar enterprises but they are all investors, where non-residents are bringing their own money to Ukraine to establish new businesses or to complete a trade agreement with a Ukraine based company. Naturally both include some foreign nationals working in Ukraine. Therefore they need a work permit and residents permits to stay here.

All of these foreign 'directors/managers' create local jobs and start to employ Ukrainian nationals.
This is want the country needs.

But try telling this to the decision makers at the Kyiv Employment Centre who are responsible for processing the vast amounts of paperwork we submit for each work permit for foreigners to work and develop their businesses here in Ukraine. If there is an excuse to delay or reject an application they are sure to find it. THINGS HAVE NOT CHANGED IN UKRAINE. In fact they might have got worse.

One of our client companies has already invested millions of dollars in to Ukraine over the past few years but still needs to bring nationals from its own country to provide training to local employees and help develop the business. But the process for obtaining work permits for this client is proving a major challenge with the 'forces of bureaucracy' in the Kyiv Employment Centre.

These foreign nationals are NOT displacing jobs from locals. Moreover, they are actually helping to create more jobs. The ONLY help these foreign companies need from the government of Ukraine is a few pieces of paper (ie work permits) to help investment to continue. Is that too much to ask?

Before anyone asks....we never pay bribes. :) Maybe here is the reason?