In April 2019, Managing partner and CEO of Crane IP Law Firm visited Warsaw to conduct negotiations with leading Polish law firms.
Elena Polosmak and Ivan Nikitchenko discussed with the Polish colleagues the investment climate in Poland, Ukraine and the CIS countries, examples of business entering the markets of new countries from their practice and shared the peculiarities of working with entrepreneurs from their countries.
Ukrainian business more often chooses Poland as the first market for work in the European Union. The geographical proximity, larger in several times volume of GDP, the large Ukrainian diaspora and the cultural affinity of the Poles make this market very attractive for Ukrainian producers. Poland often becomes the basis for further moving to the markets of other EU countries.
Also Polish business pays attention to Ukraine, trying to expand its geographic coverage. After all, the cost of entering the Ukrainian market is still low, and the economy and purchasing power of Ukrainian has been growing for the fourth year in a row.
“We see that Ukraine is beginning to move along the path of Poland in the 90s – the beginning of the 21st century. We are a big market with a low financial threshold for Europeans. And Ukraine has a free trade zone with the European Union. At the same time, we still have strong economic ties with the CIS countries. And it is precisely for this reason that Ukraine can become for Poland what Poland has become for Germany before. And for the CIS countries, what Poland became for the post-Soviet countries in the 1990s – a bridge between Europe and the CIS countries. And the requests of our customers only confirm this trend”, noted Ivan Nikitchenko, CEO of Crane IP Law Firm.
Following the meetings, agreements were reached on mutual support of the interests of Polish business in Ukraine and the CIS countries, and Ukrainian business in Poland.
It is worth noting that in the first quarter of 2019, Poland for the first time reached the first place among the trade partners of Ukraine, pushing Russia into second place. Among the trade partners of Poland, Russia ranks third.