Zhytomyr was the tenth oblast that the Business Ombudsman visited within the framework of his working visits program to the regions of Ukraine.
Mr. Šemeta met with the Head of regional state administration Sergii Mashkovskyy and Head of local council Anzhelika Labunska, where they discussed the issues of doing business that require consideration at the state level.
“Cooperation with the Business Ombudsman Council is crucial for us, as the task of the newly created institution – to facilitate fighting corruption and creating conditions for transparent business – fully coordinates with the priorities we set for ourselves for the development of Zhytomyr region,” said Sergii Mashkovskyy, Head of Zhytomyr State Administration. The oblast’s head also mentioned that Zhytomyr region is in the TOP-10 regions of Ukraine where small and middle business is developing most rapidly. Still, he said, to support competitive business, tax allowances and incentives are strongly needed.
After that. the Business Ombudsman met with the business representatives and government agencies of the region.
Entrepreneurs took the floor to let the Business Ombudsman know about the difficulties in doing business they face. The issues raised included lack of power on the side of local authorities to solve their problems, activity of state monopolies, land and customs issues, permits and licenses as well as implementation of reforms that are initiated in Kyiv, in the regions.
“If all government agencies performed their functions as they should, the country would need such institution as the Business Ombudsman Council. Today our main goal is to consider complaints from businesses regarding state bodies inactivity or malpractice. Any businessperson can file us a complaint. Since our launch of operations in May 2015, we have received 680 complaints, out of which 393 (58%) were taken into consideration, 32 are currently in preliminary assessment and 255 were dismissed as not fitting eligibility criteria. We have received 10 complaints from Zhytomyr so far,” said Algrdas Semeta during the meeting with entrepreneurs.
Business Ombudsman also attended one of the leading enterprises in Zhytomyr, Eurogold Industries Ltd, that produces ironing boards and laundry driers. Not only thousands of Ukrainians, but also citizens of many European cities use their products on a daily basis.
We would like to remind that the visit to Zhytomyr was performed within the framework of the working visits program of the Business Ombudsman to the regions of Ukraine, where Mr. Šemeta meets entrepreneurs and officials to discuss key problems they face while doing business and the possibilities for improvement of investment potential of the regions. Mr. Šemeta has already visited 9 regions: Chernigiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Odesa, Rivne, Volyn and Cherkasy regions.
