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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release March 4, 1994

FACT SHEET

U.S.-UKRAINIAN BILATERAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Joint Commission on Trade and Investment: A terms of reference providing a general framework for the establishment of the Joint Commission was agreed upon during the visit of Ukrainian President Kravchuk. The Commission will provide a bilateral forum for exchanging information and for consultation on commercial, legal and regulatory conditions that affect trade and investment. The objective of the Commission is to lower barriers to trade and promote an expansion of investment. The Department of Commerce will be the U.S. partner in the Commission.

Agricultural Cooperation:

A "Joint Statement of Basic Principles of Cooperation in the Sphere of Agriculture" was signed by Secretary Espy and the Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture.
A P.L. 480, Title I agreement for the concessional sale of $20 million of soybean meal was signed by the Secretary and the Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture.
USDA announced a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ukrainian government on placing a USDA agricultural policy advisor in Kiev.
USDA announced an offer to work with the Ukrainian government on developing wholesale markets in agricultural commodities.

Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): The U.S. has decided to extend Ukraine GSP status. USTR has offered to send a team to Kiev by June to hold seminars for Ukrainian officials on utilizing GSP.

Joining GATT: The United States will chair the working group on Ukraine's accession to the GATT. The U.S. has offered to provide an advisor to spend several months at the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations to assist Kiev in readying accession documentation for GATT review.

Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC): $50 million in additional OPIC funding will be made available for investment projects in Ukraine in FY 94 -- $10 million in finance and $40 million in risk insurance. OPIC will be sponsoring a Ukraine investors conference in Chicago in July. Some two dozen investment projects recently proposed by the Ukrainians are under OPIC review.

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