OREANDA-NEWS. January 20, 2011. Ukraine is highly interested in cooperation with the Japanese business, President Viktor Yanukovych said, speaking at the first Ukrainian-Japanese forum "Investment opportunities in Ukraine” held in Tokyo.

"First, I would like to thank the Japan External Trade Organization, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Japan Institute for Overseas Investment for organizing this massive event, aimed at presentation of the investment opportunities in Ukraine.

I would also like to thank representatives of business and authorities of Japan, who responded to our invitation. I am sure that today's seminar will increase the interest of Japanese companies in investing and doing business in Ukraine.

First of all, I would like to address those representatives of Japanese business, who have never been in Ukraine and are only considering the idea of cooperation in this direction.

Imagine one of the largest countries in Europe, which borders Russia on the East, the European Union on the West, and has a wide access to the Black Sea in the South.

Imagine a country that produces modern space ships, aircrafts and other modern engineering products.

Imagine a country with virtually unlimited potential of agriculture, a country that is on the list of ten global leaders by the number of certified programmers, a country of educated, hard working people, for which the current historic moment is the moment of truth.

As well as it is the moment of trials and tests of the ability to be successful.

If we blend it all together, you will see the perfect moment for successful investment," Viktor Yanukovych said.

The skill of being a successful investor, he said, means to be at the right place in the right time and make a right decision “Now it is the right time, Ukraine is the right place and all it takes is making a right decision," the President said, adding that he on Japanese businessmen to believe not in words, but in specific figures.

Having overcome the economic downturn, Ukraine entered the stage of stable development, Viktor Yanukovych said. He reminded that in 2010, GDP growth was around 5%, and industrial production increase was about 11%.

"According to some forecasts, next year Ukraine will have one of the best indicators of GDP growth on the continent.

Las summer the Government presented a program of economic reforms until 2014, focusing mainly on four components: macroeconomic stability, improving social standards, improving business climate and conditions of investment, and modernization of infrastructure in the key industries. We are actively working on developing state mechanisms for improvement of investment climate in Ukraine.

To this end, we have established the Council of Domestic and Foreign Investors, whose work will contribute to further improvement of the investment potential and attractiveness of our country.

Soon, membership of the Council will be approved and it will gather chairmen of major Ukrainian enterprises and powerful foreign investors.

It is very inspiring that representatives of Japanese businesses have expressed their interest in working in this mechanism of cooperation between the authorities and entrepreneurs too.

I am sure that at today’s event you will get detailed information on investment in Ukraine, the existing potential of cooperation in such areas as energy or agriculture, and on specific economic projects," he said.

"I would like to reiterate the interest of Ukraine in the presence of Japanese business in all sectors of our economy. So I invite enterprises and companies of Japan to reconsider their business development strategies on the Ukrainian direction seriously, taking into account the positive changes that have occurred in our country in recent months," Viktor Yanukovych said.

President Yanukovych invited participants of the forum to closer cooperation with the Ukrainian partners and to starting business negotiations right now. He also wished them fruitful work and success in a common cause of building trade and economic relations between Ukraine and Japan