On Tuesday June 9, 2015, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, delivered a speech at the University of Toronto. The event was chaired by MP Chrystia Freeland (Toronto Centre). The following is a composition of quotes from Sir Suma Chakrabarti's speech taken from www.ebrd.com.
“[Ukraine] is, I know, a country close to the hearts of many of you in the audience today. And it is a country that the Bank I have the privilege to serve as President, the EBRD, is doing its utmost to help at this momentous period in its history.
We do so not out of charity. Although all of us feel a sense of compassion when we witness the hardships its people have currently to undergo.
We do so, instead, in the knowledge that we are well qualified to support the Ukrainian transition. Ukraine’s story is at a turning point. Helping Ukraine achieve the long overdue economic transition is in the best tradition of what we as a Bank were established for 25 years ago.”
“We see the country’s enormous unrealised potential. At independence, Ukraine was economically ahead of Poland, its citizens as well off or even better. Ukraine frittered away that promise. It failed to make systemic change. It stagnated. And now, as many of you will be only too aware, Ukraine is in the grip of a severe and profound crisis.”
“Together, the fighting in the east, the economic crisis and the legacy of years of mismanagement of resources, to put it bluntly, of corruption, have in them the makings of a tragedy with few parallels in a country of Ukraine’s size.”
“We need to give credit where credit is due. And today I want to speak up and speak out. About some of the considerable achievements that Ukraine’s beleaguered government has to its name – even in the most adverse of circumstances.
A crisis of the order Ukraine currently faces is, of course, a threat to its security and stability. It is, naturally, a challenge which a nation can rise to. Or one it can flunk. It is also an opportunity, one to be grasped. Or wasted.”
“We have seen real progress on many, many fronts: energy security, gas tariffs, fiscal reform. There is more. Strengthening the rule of law, reforming the judiciary and public procurement, improving the governance of state-owned enterprises and the cleaning up of the financial system.”
“A big test – political, social, economic – is reform of Ukraine’s system of subsidies. Larry Summers argued recently that Ukraine has done more in the past 12 months to reform its subsidies than most nations do in 12 years. We in EBRD agree.
In fact, the Ukrainian authorities have moved swiftly and decisively to tick off the items on the reform wish list that we and others have presented to their predecessors – and to counterparts in other countries.
And all of this in the most hostile of environments.”
“Put simply, 18 months ago, the EBRD was partially disengaging from Ukraine. Such was our frustration and despair at the lack of progress we were making and the way our advice was being stonewalled that we stopped investing in its public sector. We talked tough publicly. We walked tough in our investment approach. We made clear we would work only with the private sector. And even this was proving difficult.
Now, in the middle of 2015, we work more closely with the Ukrainian government than with almost any other in our regions. Our recommendations are listened to and acted on.”
“I have dwelt on some of the achievements the Ukrainian government has to its name. Because I believe those achievements deserve a wider and more appreciative audience than perhaps they have reached to date. There seems to be a time lag in some countries in realising what is different. A disbelief borne of past experience with Ukraine. Supporters of the new Ukraine, and the Ukraine’s reforming government, need to change global narrative. Only changed mindsets will attract more investment. And we intend helping the country to do that.
“Our commitment to Ukraine is, thus, not one that is here today, gone tomorrow. We are in this for the long haul.
But the historical perspective that comes with our core mission, one whose results are measured over decades rather than any shorter timeframe, also suggests the following.
Concealed amidst all the hardship, the uncertainty and the financial turmoil of the present is Ukraine’s best chance of guaranteeing the future its people deserve.”
“We urge the Ukrainian government to be yet bolder. To grasp the nettle of difficult reforms still more firmly. There is still much that urgently needs to be done in the banking and energy sectors. The fight against corruption and oligarchs has only just begun. That many-headed hydra will take a lot of slaying!”
“What we are witnessing now in Ukraine is a huge test of its will and its courage. A test that the country has confronted with impressive determination of late.”
“As EBRD’s President, I see current events as an important challenge for the Bank and what it stands for.
We will not shirk this challenge. In fact, we relish it. Rising to such a challenge is what the EBRD was set up to do. As I said earlier, I believe we are as well placed as any other entity to help Ukraine through these difficult times. And help Ukraine re-energise transition to a more advanced economy. And to more modern form of politics.
Ladies and gentlemen, Ukraine's glory has not yet died, nor her freedom, as the opening line of its national anthem argues, rather gloomily.
I would prefer to conclude my remarks today on a more upbeat note. I firmly believe that, as the anthem goes on to say, ‘fate shall smile once more’ on a modern, prosperous Ukrainian nation. Ukraine is doing its bit. So must all of those, like EBRD, who believe in the cause of transition.”
Share on Social Media
