Pustovoitenko travels to Washington to seek continued funding from IMF (02/07/99)

Pustovoitenko travels to Washington to seek continued funding from IMF

by R.L. Chomiak
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko of Ukraine came to Washington on February 2 to seek money from the International Monetary Fund's Extended Fund Facility program. But, he came also to promote the re-election of Leonid Kuchma as president this October.

"We need the EFF money more than ever," he told members of the Ukrainian community invited to the Embassy of Ukraine at the end of the first day of his two-day visit, explaining that Ukraine must make payments on its earlier loans this quarter, and the EFF money would help keep Ukraine's monetary system stable.

He was unabashed in promoting the re-election of President Kuchma, even suggesting that Ukrainian Americans contact their relatives in Ukraine and explain to them the Ukrainian government's main goal: "We should do everything to make our people's life better."

He said a political association called Zlahoda (Concord) was established recently to unite all the people who want to strengthen Ukraine's statehood. Its leadership, in addition to Mr. Pustovoitenko, includes former President Leonid Kravchuk, former Parliament Chairman Ivan Pliusch, National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Viktor Yuschenko, and Yuri Shcherbak, former ambassador to the U.S. and now President Kuchma's foreign affairs adviser (Mr. Yuschenko and Ambassador Shcherbak were members of the prime minister's delegation, as was Finance Minister Ihor Mitiukov and other officials.) The Zlahoda association, he said, will work for President Kuchma's re-election.

Prime Minister Pustovoitenko said his government, has done everything to assure a good harvest this year, including purchasing for the agricultural sector 1,000 tractors made in Ukraine (some at the Pivdenne rocket plant in Dnipropetrovsk, jointly with the American company Case). The reason: after the harvest comes the election, and, if the harvest is good, the election will go well.

The Ukrainian leader did not want to say much about the possibility of a cut in this year's U.S. aid to Ukraine. Congress wants Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright to certify by February 18 that Ukraine has made progress on economic reforms and on resolution of complaints by American companies operating in Ukraine before it approves the full amount of assistance.

Having met with Secretary Albright that morning, he gave his Ukrainian community audience the impression that certification was far from assured.

Prime Minister Pustovoitenko did point out that more than 900 American companies are doing business in Ukraine and only nine have unresolved complaints, yet these few cases continually come up at the highest levels of U.S.-Ukraine talks. In a somewhat sarcastic aside, the prime minister said, "We should learn from the Americans about how to fight for the interests of private businesses abroad."

He did concede, however, that Ukraine's court system is among its weak spots, but added that even here progress has been made: recently several local officials were arrested in Crimea and charged with corruption.

There is insufficient understanding in the U.S. of what Ukraine has accomplished, complained the prime minister. He noted that Ukraine's revenues have increased last year over those of 1997; several free economic zones have been created to attract foreign investors; Ukraine's economy has been stabilized despite the effects of the Russian financial crisis last year thanks to the efforts of the National Bank, the government and President Kuchma. Stability is what Ukraine needs to preserve its statehood, he emphasized. Mr. Pustovoitenko also praised the government's Ukraine 2010 program, which is to lead Ukraine out of economic hardship by that year.

The prime minister pooh-poohed recent predictions by the Global Intelligence Service that Ukraine's economic crisis will push it into Russia's arms. He said that last May he saw that media outlet's prediction that Ukraine will collapse by October 1998. "We have survived, and we will survive. Let them write what they want," he stated.

He complained that the World Trade Organization (WTO) refuses to accept Ukraine into its membership, the U.S. refuses to buy its steel and Russia cut back on food purchases from Ukraine and then Ukraine is criticized for not improving its economy. But, on the bright side, he said, Kazakstan has started buying Ukrainian farm machinery and Ukraine plans to establish a service network in that country.

As for worries about Ukraine's move toward a new union with Russia, he pointed out that after Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan, Belarus and Russia forged an economic union all four fared worse than before. Despite a strong push in the Verkhovna Rada for Ukraine to join the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (a precursor of a new USSR), the vote failed. "Some members who I'd thought would vote for it voted against it," he added.

The big promoter of Ukraine's membership in the Moscow-led Inter-Parliamentary Assembly is Ukraine's Parliament Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko, who will be visiting the U.S. soon, Prime Minister Pustovoitenko said, hinting that Ukrainians in America could ask him why he wants Ukraine to move closer to Russia.

Ambassador Anton Buteiko, who hosted the evening with Prime Minister Pustovoitenko, explained that the delegation's agenda includes meetings with Secretary Albright, high-level assistants to President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore, and officials of the World Bank and the IMF. The delegation was scheduled to leave for Kyiv in the evening of February 3.

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