On February 26, representatives of the IT industry held a meeting with the President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman. The recent initiative of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, which aimed to restrict the activities of Individual Entrepreneurs, acted as a catalyst for a meeting. The President and the Prime Minister assured representatives of the IT industry that there is no need to worry.
At Global Logic HQ in Kyiv, representatives of IT community resolved one of the most resonant and threatening issues for all creative industries in Ukraine. The IT industry shows the most dynamic annual growth compared to other sectors of the Ukrainian economy – 20%. Moreover, IT is one of the three biggest industries based on GDP, and the second by the number of export. It is expected that in 2 years, the IT industry GDP will reach 8% if the industry continues to show stable growth.
Volodymyr Groysman declared that “the development of IT and creative sector is very important. It is clear that we can succeed if the rules that exist in the country will promote the growth of the sector, and will be attractive for foreign investors. I absolutely agree that we need to overcome the digital discrimination that currently exists in the country.” The Prime Minister also emphasized that the initiative of the Ministry of Social Policy is dismissed. A further discussion of the possible changes in the tax system continues, and hopefully, it will lead to a joint decision with business representatives and will result in the industry growth, not the tax increase.
“IT is the direction that determines the future. Personally, I firmly believe that this is a priority sector for Ukraine, which provides us with highly competitive advantages on the continent and in the world. The result of the cooperation of the IT industry and government should be not just the creation of a middle class, but the establishment of a mechanism to enable young people to unleash their potential in Ukraine,” emphasized Petro Poroshenko.
The meeting was attended by representatives of outsourcing and product companies and representatives of regional IT clusters. “We are glad that extensive coverage of the position of IT industry in the media and social networks, we managed to reach a dialogue with the state leadership. Regardless of the results of the presidential election, we will continue the dialogue with the country’s leaders, in order to reach a common decision that will allow the business to grow, be transparent and easy for all employees in the industry. After all, the development of IT and creative industries create jobs for the intellectual youth of the country, while any restrictions can lead to a brain-drain, which would be a serious threat to the Ukrainian economy. Therefore, we continue to work on the development of the IT sphere, with the involvement of the state,” stated Stepan Veselovskyi, CEO at Lviv IT Cluster.
“As a representative of a product company, I am glad that we managed to reach a common understanding of business issues with the government. It is extremely important to support IT and creative industries on behalf of the state, especially at the moment when we observe rapid growth of the industry not only at the Ukrainian but also at the global level. Further development of the IT sector will help Ukraine to become a competitive country at the international digital tech market, which will provide strong positions on the international scene,” tells Ivan Babichuk, Supervisory Board Chairman at Lviv IT Cluster, VP of Engineering at Edunav.