Direct Link to Investors: Kuchma’s Website Features Questionnaire for Foreign Business

In an effort to improve the investment climate, the Administration of President Leonid Kuchma has decided to ask foreign businessmen directly for their opinion. A special questionnaire has been posted on the official website of the head of state, allowing investors to point out key problems and suggest measures to improve business conditions in Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities appear to have realized that the best advice on attracting investment comes not from local officials, but from the investors themselves. In preparation for the next meeting of the Advisory Council on Foreign Investment under the President’s Administration, an unusual tool has been launched—an online survey of foreign entrepreneurs on President Leonid Kuchma’s website.

What are investors being asked?

The questionnaire is intended both for those who have already invested in the Ukrainian economy and for those only considering such a possibility. The questions are formulated to identify real, not hypothetical, barriers:

• Main problems hindering investment activity in Ukraine.
• Specific difficulties faced by businesses.
• Information about planned or ongoing investment projects.
• Proposals for measures that could improve conditions for investment.

In essence, it is an invitation to voice all accumulated grievances about the tax and customs systems, bureaucracy, and law enforcement, bypassing the multi-tiered bureaucratic ladder.

“The survey results will allow for a substantial improvement in the effectiveness of the preparation and implementation of state investment policy,”

noted the President’s Administration.

The Goal: Not Just Data Collection, but Dialogue and Capital

The official statement outlines clear objectives. Beyond improving investment policy, the survey aims to:

1. Deepen dialogue between foreign investors and Ukrainian state bodies.
2. Facilitate an increase in foreign capital inflows into the Ukrainian economy.

Thus, the questionnaire is not only a research tool but also an image-building step, designed to show that the Ukrainian authorities are ready to listen to, and perhaps even hear, business.

Skepticism vs. Optimism: Is It Worth the Candle?

For a foreign investor who has faced corruption, corporate raiding, and unpredictable courts for years, such a questionnaire might seem like another formality. History knows many examples where fine initiatives “from the top” have shattered against the wall of bureaucratic inaction “at the bottom.”

On the other hand, the very fact that such a tool has appeared at the highest level acknowledges the problem. If the collected complaints and proposals are not shelved but form the basis for concrete decisions, legislative changes, and—importantly—personnel reshuffles in regulatory bodies, this could be a small but real step forward.

What’s Next?

The main question now is how seriously the President’s Administration will take the results. Will this survey be a one-time “box-ticking” exercise before the Advisory Council meeting, or the start of systemic work to remove the barriers that business has long been complaining about?

Ukrainian officials responsible for the economy should prepare: if foreign investors truly seize the opportunity to speak up, their frank assessment could be very harsh. But it is precisely this kind of uncensored conversation that is needed for Ukraine’s investment climate to finally cease being a subject of bitter jokes and become a competitive advantage.