With the Korea Plan, Selenskyj wants to make Ukraine
HISTORIC EXAMPLE With the Korea Plan, Selenskyj wants to make Ukraine an economic power By Tobias Kaiser Correspondent in Brussels He knows where he wants to go with his country: President Volodymyr SelenskyiHe knows where he wants to go with his country: President Volodymyr Selenskyi He knows where he wants to go with his country: President Volodymyr Selenskyj Source: AFP via Getty Images The Ukrainian president wants to lead his country to economic strength despite unpredictable neighbours and border conflicts. He has a surprising role model for this - and a partner worth billions behind him. The president comes from show business, but the audience doesn't notice that today: Volodymyr Selenskyj seems inhibited, almost insecure, as he greets the audience. In front of him sit people who represent billions: entrepreneurs, investors and representatives of the most important international financiers. He obviously does not feel at home in this circle, but he has brought a strong message to the audience: "Ukraine," he says, "has what it takes to become the new South Korea. The promise of the former actor and comedian, whom the country's voters made president last summer, completely unexpectedly: Ukraine can become a turnaround story, just like South Korea, which has developed within a few decades from one of the poorest countries on earth to a prosperous high-tech nation. The comparison is deliberately chosen: Today, thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine is one of the poorest of the 15 successor states. Last year, the country generated 3,000 dollars per capita; in Russia, per capita economic output was four times as high, and in the former Soviet Estonia it was eight times as high. And like South Korea, Ukraine is threatened by a long smouldering conflict with an unpredictable neighbour behind an unsettled border that divides the former national territory. The participants of the Mariupol Investment Forum, which Selenskyj is addressing, are well aware of this: the port city of Mariupol, where the conference is being held, is only 30 kilometres west of the frontline, where Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists are facing each other. The inhabitants of Ukraine have been through hard economic times. Two revolutions and years of political chaos have made Ukrainians so tired of politics that last July they elected actor and comedian Selensky as president. The newcomer to politics has promised business-friendly reforms and his plans make clear what previous governments failed to tackle: judicial reform, privatisation of important companies and facilitation for foreign investors. The most far-reaching economic policy project, but also the most delicate one, is the planned relaxation of the rules on land acquisition: at present, agricultural land in Ukraine may not be sold and may not be used as collateral for loans; a regulation that dates back to the time after the collapse of the Soviet Union and was also intended to prevent Ukrainian land from falling into foreign hands. Sufficient political capital The moratorium on sales is still very popular among the population today. However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country's most important lender, has been pressing for years to liberalize the market for farmland. The World Bank is also advocating this. The moratorium is preventing investment in new irrigation methods, higher-yielding crops and other technologies that could significantly increase agricultural productivity. The interest in Russia and among Western companies in the fertile soils is enormous, as is the economic potential: agriculture is responsible for up to 12 percent of Ukraine's economic output; liberalization could therefore generate considerable investment and a boost to growth Unburdened by scandals or political felts and equipped with the first one-party majority in parliament since the end of the Soviet Union, Selenskyj has sufficient political capital to initiate reforms. He also has international support: In December, the IMF announced a 5.5 billion dollar loan to Ukraine and demonstratively backed Zelenskyj's policies. Many international donors such as the EU and the World Bank also came to the investors' meeting in Mariupol at the end of October to signal their support. Event la North Korea His voters will above all be watching to see if Selenskyj keeps his promise and manages to end the conflict with Russia in eastern Ukraine. The agreement reached at the end of December between Russia, Ukraine and the EU on gas transit is not only seen by Russia as a sign of a possible thaw