The foundation of the economies of developed European countries has always been and remains industry – first and foremost its manufacturing sector. The share of manufacturing in the GDP of Germany and Japan is around 20%, while in neighbouring Poland it stands at 17%.
In Ukraine, by contrast, this share has been steadily declining for many decades. Over the past quarter-century, Ukraine has reduced the manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP from 27% to 8%. The war is accelerating deindustrialisation many times over.
With thousands of destroyed enterprises and ruined industrial infrastructure, Ukraine cannot restore its industry without the help of partners. That is why one of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine’s (FRU) strategic initiatives is Industrial Ramstein – an effort, modelled on the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (Ramstein format), to unite foreign partners into a coalition that will help Ukraine overcome the consequences of Russian aggression on the industrial front. In implementing this initiative, we are supported by our reliable long-term partners – the ILO – within the framework of the Belgian Government Project:
“ILO Support to Ukraine: Preventing Labour Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons, Supporting Entrepreneurship Development and Institutional Support to Social Partners”
Governments of European countries have already launched programmes and funds to support the reconstruction of the Ukrainian economy and signed relevant agreements with the Ukrainian government for their implementation. These include France and Finland in particular. Ukraine’s recovery is also supported by the Danish Export and Investment Fund (EIFO), the Korean International Cooperation Agency, and the Government of Switzerland. These instruments can be successfully used to procure equipment under the Industrial Ramstein initiative.
Germany is one of the world leaders in mechanical engineering. Cooperation with the German government, industry associations, and companies for the reconstruction of Ukrainian industry is therefore of strategic importance to us – and we see considerable interest in return. This is confirmed by recent FRU meetings with German officials, the active development of dialogue with relevant associations within VDMA (the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association), and the readiness of German machine-tool manufacturers to engage in meetings and negotiations.
As early as March, we are planning meetings with leading German machine-tool producers whose equipment is vital for restarting Ukrainian enterprises: Grob-Werke GmbH & Co. KG, Nagel Technologies, and WENZEL Group GmbH & Co. KG. The main topic of these meetings will be Industrial Ramstein and the decisive role that German manufacturers can play in bringing this initiative to life. We already have a compiled list of the equipment needed by Ukrainian enterprises and a concrete action plan.
We are confident that combining our efforts and establishing effective dialogue between the governments and businesses of Ukraine and Germany will inevitably lead to the launch of large-scale projects to modernise Ukrainian industry – projects that will be beneficial to all participants.